Buying a car without service history?

[SD1992]

On the hunt for a new car, and there is a nice one with a lot of new parts, but no service history

It is a 1998 Mondeo ST24 with 104, MOT until January, and the guy said he will sell me it for £900 with 6 months tax.

I am a bit wary of it, but I could be wrong? Is this a potential money pit? He says the car is totally fine and drives fine besides a little bit of rust on one of the arches.

Any ideas?

[steveo3002]

see if you can check the milage from old mots , or assume its done lots more

[davepoth]

You can check the MOT history online if you have the V5, so do it at the dealer.

[dowahdiddyman]

Surely for that sort of money and age a service history is not really important.

[SD1992]

Turns out the car has a partial history to 61k, and the last MOT was done at 98k. Looks much better now

[SD1992]

dowahdiddyman said:

Surely for that sort of money and age a service history is not really important.

True, but it is just peace of mind.

Does it sound like a good deal?

[nottyash]

Dont think I would worry about a shed worth a few hundred. I wasnt when I bought a Golf GTI mk 3 a couple of years ago for £600. It was a great car.
Although I would not pay £900 for a Mondeo even if it had FSH.

[Liquid Knight]

When it breaks down you can blame the lack of history instead of the badge.

[Tonberry]

Go for it if you plan on running it into the ground. You won't be able to sell it very quickly if the need ever arrises.

£900 is a bit steep so try and drop him a little.

Make sure you keep an eye on the temp gauge if you do buy it as the water pumps fail on these. Also look out for suspect ticking noises which could be a possible sign of head gasket failure.

Good luck.

[SD1992]

Thanks for the reply

Yeah, I do plan to run the car until it breaks.

It comes with quite a few new parts ready to go on (oil, filter, fuel filter etc) and has just had a lot of work done - brakes, front suspension, IMRC, couple of new tyres and a couple of others.

How much should I offer?

I plan to do the water pump as soon as I can.

[Liquid Knight]

SD1992 said:

How much should I offer?

There's one on eBay for £695 buy it now so start at £600 and have a haggle. If you want the same engine but in a arguably better looking body there are pleny of Cougars about.

[SD1992]

Will have a go and see what happens

The car will need a new tax disc, and if I go down tomorrow the post office won't be open. The seller said something about a 14 day grace, but I would want to get it done ASAP. Is it possible to tax a car online that I have just bought?

[VeeFour]

dowahdiddyman said:

Surely for that sort of money and age a service history is not really important.

Depends if there are some really expensive jobs due immediately, really.

You see lots of Fiat 5-cylinder cars being sold at cheap prices *just* as they're due a major cambelt service.

Not sure if the Mondeo has some really expensive services, but that's what I'd be wary of.

[Liquid Knight]

SD1992 said:

Will have a go and see what happens

The car will need a new tax disc, and if I go down tomorrow the post office won't be open. The seller said something about a 14 day grace, but I would want to get it done ASAP. Is it possible to tax a car online that I have just bought?

Yes but it will be p[osted to the address on the V5 not yours. I did this once and asked the chap who I'd bought the car from to forward it to me in the post.

There is no "grace" period for new owners to tax cars even though post offices aren't open Sundays it would still be driving without tax.

Pay online at dvla.gov and ask the owner to post it. How much can you trust someone who's selling a Ford Mondeo for money?