Im going to go see a lovely looking E46 Coupe. Guy selling it is a dealer, gets his cars from a local Mazda dealership in part exchange. its advertised as full service history. but I called him to ask specifically about the water pump and control arm bushings which should really be replaced around 60000 miles (its a 78k car). He told me that he has the service book fully stamped up by specialists up to 70k, but he doesn't have invoices so he cant tell for sure what exactly has been done at any point beyond Inspection 1 and 2.
Ive never bought a car without invoices to show the detail before - what do you think of that? He sounds a straight up guy, for whatever that's worth, not a geezer, but im curious as to why invoices would be missing and whether that should be a red flag, however nice the car looks. thoughts?
viewing a car - advice please
viewing a car - advice please
2.8 sadly departed, currently between zeds.....
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BladeRunner919
- Joined: Fri 17 Feb, 2012 20:18
- Posts: 2225
Re: viewing a car - advice please
Lots of people don't keep any paperwork because they don't care. The fact that it's missing isn't necessarily a warning sign - it's not as if the guy's claiming the work's been done and it hasn't. If the book's fully stamped you could maybe contact whoever did the work and see what records they have of work done.
At the end of the day it comes down to risk against price. If they want top money for the car, then that's probably unreasonable, but if the price is fair and you go in with the expectation of having to spend up to £xxx to allocate to potential problems, then I wouldn't personally be too worried.
If in doubt you can get an inspection done before purchase - a genuine seller will have no problem with that.
At the end of the day it comes down to risk against price. If they want top money for the car, then that's probably unreasonable, but if the price is fair and you go in with the expectation of having to spend up to £xxx to allocate to potential problems, then I wouldn't personally be too worried.
If in doubt you can get an inspection done before purchase - a genuine seller will have no problem with that.
Re: viewing a car - advice please
Yeah I guess it could be a bargaining point - cheers. Car looks like its been well cared for in pics, but we shall see.
2.8 sadly departed, currently between zeds.....
Re: viewing a car - advice please
Has the car been through a BMW dealer? In my experience, they usually bin all the paperwork (including old MoTs), except for the official service book.
To me, that information is a really important part of the decision to buy a decent car, and equally important when you come to sell on, but I guess BMW don't see it like that. They'll tell you that the BMW AUC warranty covers everything, and then they expect you to PX it in for a new Beamer later on anyway....
Or maybe the Mazda dealer has the same philosophy?
A.
To me, that information is a really important part of the decision to buy a decent car, and equally important when you come to sell on, but I guess BMW don't see it like that. They'll tell you that the BMW AUC warranty covers everything, and then they expect you to PX it in for a new Beamer later on anyway....
Or maybe the Mazda dealer has the same philosophy?
A.
