Tracing a used cars service history

[flakeypaul]

I'm looking to buy a new car after PHs overwhelming advice to get rid of my rapidly dying Zafira. I've found a few suitable replacements which I'm going to look at on saturday. It needs to be a seven seater and I don't fancy another Vauxhall so I'm going for a Renault Grand Scenic. One which I'm interested in has a good spec, 54k miles and is at the right price. The sticking point is the service history.

The ad states that is has full service history but upon contacting the dealer I was warned that the service history book was stolen from the glove box while the car was on the forecourt. I have no reason to doubt the dealers word but I have no reason to trust it either. It does however give me leverage to talk a decent sum off the asking price (as when it comes to selling a total lack of service history will be a serious negative selling point).

Under no circumstances will I buy a car with 54k on the clock without knowing that it has been serviced! I will however be happy to buy it (with money off!) if I can find its history out elsewhere.

My question is, has anyone done this before? i.e. dug up a cars service history without the service book? if so how did you get on and what hurdles did you come across (i.e. 'sorry can't tell you anything - data protection act, innit?' and the like).

[tali1]

Done it twice - with Citroen and Peugeot dealers - both exceedingly helpful.
Peugeot only charged a tenner and Citroen did it for free.

[flakeypaul]

This car's for sale through a private dealer so I don't know if a renault dealer would want to help (haven't dealt with Renault before so I don't know how willing they are!)

[Sir Bagalot]

Call Renault UK and ask them if they can trace it.

To me it doesn't sound good. Any dealer worth their salt will have the cars documentation in a folder, and not in the car.

[flakeypaul]

Sir Bagalot said:

Any dealer worth their salt will have the cars documentation in a folder, and not in the car.

That was my first thought - if I can trace its history and negotiate a good discount then I might be interested (it's the third car I plan to view on saturday), otherwise I'll give it a wide berth.

Edited by flakeypaul on Thursday 27th May 22:38

[rallycross]

The dealer will (or at least should) have already tried to find the history (by calling Renault, the previous owner, the dealer number from the plates and tax disk holder).

If he didnt find it then its unlikely anyone else will, hence its most likely it never had any history which leads to one conclusion - its probably been clocked.

Or you might be lucky?

[flakeypaul]

the more I think about it the worse an idea it seems!

[Lanby]

I bought a BMW Compact not so long ago at auction with no service book. Ordered a duplicate book for £5-£10, contacted BMW for the service history dates and then it was just a case of sending it with an SAE to the relevant dealers with the dates given by BMW for them to stamp it up. No problem if it was all in the dealer network.

[tali1]

flakeypaul said:

This car's for sale through a private dealer so I don't know if a renault dealer would want to help (haven't dealt with Renault before so I don't know how willing they are!)

Ah - big difference as i was owner of the cars.
DPAct may put a stop to any enquiries i reckon- can;t see them divulging details to a non owner