Missing Service History on Approved Used Car
Discussion
Hi all,
We recently bought an Approved Used Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dci Tekna from a Nissan main dealer, a 2014 model on a 64-plate with 39,000 miles on the clock. As is the current COVID way, most of the discussions were held over telephone and email, but my wife and I visited one evening to view the car on the forecourt, and then the following day my wife went through on her own and purchased the car. She took with her a list of things I had asked her to ask or confirm; a tyre that needed replacing, would the car receive a fresh MOT and service, etc. One key question she asked was whether the car had a full, complete service history. She was assured that it did.
The car was delivered to us and, that evening, I had a look through the service book. It showed just three stamps, in 2015, 2016 and 2017, covering the car up to a mileage of 16,000 miles. Beyond that there was nothing, not even evidence of a service at the point of sale. A quick email to the sales executive told us that the car had indeed been serviced for sale (a major service with cambelt change) and that they'd simply forgotten to stamp the book. No problem we said, but what about the missing history from the previous 3-and-a-half years? The salesman assured us that the previous owner had serviced the car and that they were just trying to find the paperwork.
Fast forward a few more days and I pressed the sales exec on the missing history. He came back to me and said that he'd spoken to the previous owner, and that the customer had chosen not to service the car in 2018 or 2019 as their mileage was so low (averaging circa 7k a year). Apparently the customer had chosen to stick to the 'mileage' stipulation on the service schedule rather than the 'time' stipulation, and each year at the point of MOT their mechanic had advised them that the car didn't need servicing.
This all seems like BS to me. The service book, and indeed Nissan's own website terms and conditions, states that servicing should be carried out at the earlier of the two stipulations, and that anything contrary to this could invalidate the warranty.
At present it doesn't look like the dealer is going to be very forthcoming with a resolution for this, and to be honest I'm not even sure what a good resolution would be? How much faith do we now have in a car that had a 3-and-a-half year/23,000 mile gap inbetween services? The car is clearly worth less at the moment in resale value than a car with a complete service record would be (though I accept this effect reduces as the years pass). More worryingly, if something does go pop in the future - even during the 1-year Nissan Approved warranty period - is it going to be difficult to have that warranty honored?
Should I reject the car, or stick with it? The car itself is nice, just what my wife wanted, and I don't want to be a difficult customer for the sake of it. But I also don't think we got what we were promised, or what we paid for.
All thoughts welcome.
We recently bought an Approved Used Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dci Tekna from a Nissan main dealer, a 2014 model on a 64-plate with 39,000 miles on the clock. As is the current COVID way, most of the discussions were held over telephone and email, but my wife and I visited one evening to view the car on the forecourt, and then the following day my wife went through on her own and purchased the car. She took with her a list of things I had asked her to ask or confirm; a tyre that needed replacing, would the car receive a fresh MOT and service, etc. One key question she asked was whether the car had a full, complete service history. She was assured that it did.
The car was delivered to us and, that evening, I had a look through the service book. It showed just three stamps, in 2015, 2016 and 2017, covering the car up to a mileage of 16,000 miles. Beyond that there was nothing, not even evidence of a service at the point of sale. A quick email to the sales executive told us that the car had indeed been serviced for sale (a major service with cambelt change) and that they'd simply forgotten to stamp the book. No problem we said, but what about the missing history from the previous 3-and-a-half years? The salesman assured us that the previous owner had serviced the car and that they were just trying to find the paperwork.
Fast forward a few more days and I pressed the sales exec on the missing history. He came back to me and said that he'd spoken to the previous owner, and that the customer had chosen not to service the car in 2018 or 2019 as their mileage was so low (averaging circa 7k a year). Apparently the customer had chosen to stick to the 'mileage' stipulation on the service schedule rather than the 'time' stipulation, and each year at the point of MOT their mechanic had advised them that the car didn't need servicing.
This all seems like BS to me. The service book, and indeed Nissan's own website terms and conditions, states that servicing should be carried out at the earlier of the two stipulations, and that anything contrary to this could invalidate the warranty.
At present it doesn't look like the dealer is going to be very forthcoming with a resolution for this, and to be honest I'm not even sure what a good resolution would be? How much faith do we now have in a car that had a 3-and-a-half year/23,000 mile gap inbetween services? The car is clearly worth less at the moment in resale value than a car with a complete service record would be (though I accept this effect reduces as the years pass). More worryingly, if something does go pop in the future - even during the 1-year Nissan Approved warranty period - is it going to be difficult to have that warranty honored?
Should I reject the car, or stick with it? The car itself is nice, just what my wife wanted, and I don't want to be a difficult customer for the sake of it. But I also don't think we got what we were promised, or what we paid for.
All thoughts welcome.
At the risk of having a million PHs coming down on me like a ton of bricks, why oh why do you, and others, have anything to do with main dealers???. They are NOT the ultimate place to purchase any vehicle. They do NOT have your ultimate interests at heart. Your debit/credit card is all they are interested in
You could have found the self same car from a private individual, who, you can discuss all the aspects of the vehicle with, AND at a lower price than the crooked main dealers. You can purchase extra warranty for the vehicle AFTER you've bought it. There are 2 or of these companies advertising their wares on TV.
Also, do NOT use any of the dealers finance schemes. Buying a vehicle using a bank loan, in the long run, is the best advice. What the main dealers also do NOT tell you is that by taking out their finance, YOU DO NOT OWN THE VEHICLE UNTIL THE VERY LAST PAYMENT IS MADE. Using a bank loan means that YOU own the vehicle from day 1.
Of course there will be various PHs that swear by main dealers and point out that they had the most magic deal in the world. That scenario is mostly uncommon........
Slightly predictable copy and paste job above ^
Back on topic, did the car come with any form of longer term warranty from Nissan? If not then perhaps the dealer might offer a couple of free services chucked in, it really does sound like BS from the dealer at the moment. 7k a year isn't really low miles so don't think you are being unreasonable. They must have known it hasn't been serviced within the Nissan network at the very least.
Part of the deal buying from a dealer network is surely buying something that's been properly serviced. And comes with the back up of things like goodwill gesture, etc. So if you've paid that dealership premium I think you are right to expect a level of care. Despite what datum77 might say. Have they offered you anything?
Back on topic, did the car come with any form of longer term warranty from Nissan? If not then perhaps the dealer might offer a couple of free services chucked in, it really does sound like BS from the dealer at the moment. 7k a year isn't really low miles so don't think you are being unreasonable. They must have known it hasn't been serviced within the Nissan network at the very least.
Part of the deal buying from a dealer network is surely buying something that's been properly serviced. And comes with the back up of things like goodwill gesture, etc. So if you've paid that dealership premium I think you are right to expect a level of care. Despite what datum77 might say. Have they offered you anything?
Sorry, don't notice the one year warranty part. At very least if want something in writing that this will need honoured for any faults despite lack of servicing. Might be worth looking at prices for cars with similar history to see difference in price. Gives you a negotiating tool then...
So Nissan dealer has sold you a car that hasn't been serviced for past 3 and half years.
Minimum they give it a full service now to cover all the items that should have been done over
That just puts you nearly back in the position that you should have been.
Dealer to ensure warranty honoured in full as if service had been done on time just so they don#t have a cop out
Free service about 2 weeks before end of 1yrs warranty so any faults can be reified under warranty( compensation for there crap service
Minimum they give it a full service now to cover all the items that should have been done over
That just puts you nearly back in the position that you should have been.
Dealer to ensure warranty honoured in full as if service had been done on time just so they don#t have a cop out
Free service about 2 weeks before end of 1yrs warranty so any faults can be reified under warranty( compensation for there crap service
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