finding service history of older models

[shirt]

First post in this section so hello all.

I have just bought an E28 528i. It is in excellent condition and I trust the seller, but he says the car came to him with no service history.

I know that on modern BMW's, a dealer can access the full history if the car has been BMW serviced. Will this hold true for older models?

If not, are there other methods for finding the history other than contacting the previous owners? Its not a big issue for me personally as the condition of the car speaks volumes, but I intend to sell it within the year so it would be a useful thing to have.

[jdwoodbury]

Unless it has been serviced by BMW in recent years you will have no chance. The only option is if you have old MOT or receipts and you can trace to a garage, you could get lucky and find they know the history of the car. It's best to factor into the price a missing service history or get an AA/RAC report if you are worried.

[downthepub]

A couple of years ago, I bought a E34 520i off eBay with zero history. The main dealer in Aberdeen couldn't help, they did explain that a few years previously BMW swapped systems and that particular car didn't show up on the newer system.

My E24 hasn't been near a BMW main dealer in 18 years!

[Mustard]

Its worth asking, the extensive history on both my E28 and Current & past E34's are recorded on BMW's system

[bimmer_87]

From what ive heard, if the dealer hasnt seen the car in 3 years, they remove details, all they will tell you is date it came in, thats all, and if your lucky, mileage aswell.

[Mustard]

bimmer_87 said:

From what ive heard, if the dealer hasnt seen the car in 3 years, they remove details, all they will tell you is date it came in, thats all, and if your lucky, mileage aswell.

Off the dealer/dealer groups own database they may operate that policy, but I do not think BMW do on the central database. As my E30 show records from ages ago, but has been specialist serviced now for several years now

[shirt]

cheers for the info. have been told a previous owner has copies of the history, so a lucky break for me!