Car buying help please

[Haytch]

I have found a car which has 40k miles on it, in the colour I've been looking for and at a very good price, 10-15k less miles than others in the same price bracket. Bodywork and interior look fantastic in the pictures and have been told my the sales guy, i have not gone to see it yet. Its from a big dealer about 60 miles away. However, the problem is that i have been told it only has 1 service stamp. Should this put me off?

Car is a Honda, known for reliability. Its doing my head in.

Car also comes with 3 month guarantee and can be extended for up to 24 months. So what would you guys do?

Thanks

[UncleRic]

How old is it?
40k in ten years would be suspect with just one service stamp, but a 6 month old car with 40 and one stamp would be a whole different story.

[Haytch]

Forgot about the most important aspect...
Registered February 2005 so a 54plate.

[UncleRic]

1 stamp (possibly from the garage selling the car).
40,000 miles on a 6 year old car.
Cheap / low miles compared to others of a similar ilk.

On the face of it, something definatley seems odd here, you have doubts on this one so go with your gut.

Personaly, I'd give this one a miss and wait for one with a well documented history, Honda reliability or not. You'll enjoy it even more.

[AndrewO]

Stamps don't mean anything.

You need to see the invoice of work completed, for the first three years it should have gone to the dealer network so they should be able to bring up the details for you.

[UncleRic]

AndrewO said:

..for the first three years it should have gone to the dealer network so they should be able to bring up the details for you.

..and when they tell you that it was last serviced in Jan 2011 @ 130,000 miles you'll know why it's now being sold with no history.

Perhaps.

[Haytch]

AndrewO said:

Stamps don't mean anything.

You need to see the invoice of work completed, for the first three years it should have gone to the dealer network so they should be able to bring up the details for you.

Is this with a Honda dealer or the dealer selling it? Silly question I know

[UncleRic]

Haytch said:

Is this with a Honda dealer or the dealer selling it? Silly question I know

IF the car was serviced through the Honda network, they will have records of it on file.

[va1o]

Don't think I'd buy it, sounds like its cheap for a reason.

[Bungleaio]

AndrewO said:

Stamps don't mean anything.

You need to see the invoice of work completed, for the first three years it should have gone to the dealer network so they should be able to bring up the details for you.

You don't have to go to a main dealer for servicing before the warranty runs out.

I only have stamps in the book for my car and it hasn't been near a dealer since it was two years old. the garage I take it to really know their stuff and I get to actually chat to the fella who works on my car, usually while he's actually working on it. I know they've done the work as I've seen it being done so I don't bother asking for a receipt.

I know what you are saying though it's fairly easy to get a stamp made up somewhere and fake a history.

If I was buying a car with only stamps I wouldn't avoid it but I would check out the stamps by calling the garage and checking that they do actually know the car.

I would avoid a car that had no history what so ever though.