Buying a car with little or no service history

[D_T_W]

Good idea or bad? Have spotted what appears to be a nice Saab 9-3 Aero with low mileage and at a very keen price, however there's no service book, invoices or old MOT's to back up the mileage. Seller seems genuine, and has given the mileages when the car was serviced at a main dealer, but with the Saab main dealer network now defunct it's may be a tad tricky to confirm it. There is only one receipt for it's last service at a Saab specialist.

I know the old adage of if it's too good to be true then it probably is, but it's cheap enough to potentially be worth a punt if I can squeeze the price down further than advertised. Full service including belts etc and it would be still less than the cost of a high mileage example.

It does have one known issue (Stability Control light is on) but that's a reasonably easy fix. Guy apparently just wants rid as he doesn't use it.

I'm aware I sound like I'm talking myself into it, but appreciate some worldly PH advice

[9mm]

Buy on price and condition. Very few cars go from new to old without being serviced and the vast majority are serviced to spec for at the first three years of their life. I've had plenty of cars with patchy service history and never yet had a problem. The big thing is to look for the signs of maintenance like fresh fluids and filters. If a car had no history, oil like syrup and looked as if it had had a hard life it would have to be something very special and cheap to tempt me. With many cars you can still get service records from garages so a bit of detective work may reassure you. Get the previous owner's details of the V5 and ask them who serviced the car. If the current seller can't tell you who did it and he's owned it for a few years, be suspicious.

All I'd say in addition to that is don't pay top money for a car with missing history as you will find the car a little harder to sell when that time comes around.

Edited by 9mm on Thursday 29th January 18:30

[andburg]

usual checks apply (spend £3 and get the mileage history checked) then in particular..wear on drivers seat / wheel / pedals should give away high mileage.

Thing to bear in mind with no S/H history and an older low mileage car...has the cambelt been done? budget for this replacing if in any doubt, don't want to brick the engine after a week!

[anonymous-user]

It is so common to have missing paperwork or missed services. I've had the worst engine luck with the best on paper, and no issues at all on cars with gaps. If is seems fine, then I'd say go for it.

[danp]

You could check mot mileage history online?

Does it look like it's been looked after? Have they just not kept the paperwork then? Specialist might have details if it's been there a few times.

[Paul O]

Check it's not been written off and service book lost?

[RyanTank]

on advice handed to me from this very forum. Buy on condition not paperwork.

Many cars come with little or no documents these days as people are not as careful in looking after them. or the other end is you end up with bundles of paperwork for things like tyres and wiper blader that were bought 10 years ago, but none relating to service/oil change dates etc.

MOT wise you can now see the last 5 years worth online via the dvla, you just need the vin number I think?
this should throw up any mileage inconsistencies.

And you can get a reg check done, I had one when I bought my car, think I used one recommended by the RAC or AA and it cost £3-5.

[TooMany2cvs]

Which shape of 9-3?

The older one, the rebadged NG900, which suffers badly from bulkhead cracks around the steering rack on RHD cars, and which can suffer badly from sump sludging?
Or the newer one, with GM engines instead of proper Saab ones - especially the 1.9D with lots of EGR problems?

[D_T_W]

TooMany2cvs said:

Which shape of 9-3?

The older one, the rebadged NG900, which suffers badly from bulkhead cracks around the steering rack on RHD cars, and which can suffer badly from sump sludging?
Or the newer one, with GM engines instead of proper Saab ones - especially the 1.9D with lots of EGR problems?

Neither of the above, but thanks for the helpful post

[Toaster Pilot]

You can verify the previous MOT mileages until about 2006 or so with the online service - you'll need the number of the last MOT or the V5 document reference number

[TooMany2cvs]

D_T_W said:

Neither of the above, but thanks for the helpful post

Well, they're the only two shapes of 9-3 Saab built.

[RobM77]

RyanTank said:

on advice handed to me from this very forum. Buy on condition not paperwork.

People say the same about mileage, and it's true. The trouble is, this only works if you're the last owner. If you want to sell a car on to someone else, it's going to be very hard without service history or low mileage.

I once owned a mint condition Toyota Celica Carlos Sainz. I'd had it serviced regualarly and it drove very well. I bought it at 85,000 miles, which was high at the time because the previous owner had family in Scotland he used to visit a lot - which was great for car as the mileage was mainly done sat on the motorway, and it showed with the condition. This was all classic PH stuff and ran along with PH advice. However, the damm car took me 12 months to sell at 121k miles, even though I started at just over the book price and put the price lower and lower. One month I tried advertising it without the mileage, and the phone never stopped ringing, but when I told people the mileage they just weren't interested. The moral of this story is that condition matters most, but you have to think of resale and what the general car buying public want.