Car with no service history

fisher8181 · 07-02-2014 2:17pm #1

Was having a look at this car
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-318d/6365198
Owner is a polish guy who says he has no service history but has
"Proof of the mileage"
Should no service history be a deal breaker?

Anan1 · 07-02-2014 2:19pm

fisher8181 wrote: »

Was having a look at this car
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-318d/6365198
Owner is a polish guy who says he has no service history but has
"Proof of the mileage"
Should no service history be a deal breaker?

I think a car like that would want to be very cheap to make up for it.

biko · 07-02-2014 2:21pm

Depends, for instance if he is only owner and seems to know the car inside and out and have at least a few receipts I wouldn't worry as much as if he was the 4/5/6 owner and it looks like he just bought it and now wants to sell on.

It can also be harder to sell on in a few years.

CiniO · 07-02-2014 2:28pm

What kind of proof of mileage?

djimi · 07-02-2014 2:33pm

If he has something to show that it has been serviced regularly then its not so much of an issue. With nothing other than his word Id walk away.

Anan1 · 07-02-2014 2:39pm

djimi wrote: »

If he has something to show that it has been serviced regularly then its not so much of an issue.

That'd be a service history!

djimi · 07-02-2014 2:43pm

Anan1 wrote: »

That'd be a service history!

I think most people would take a service history to mean a stamped log book in fairness!

Anything at all to show some evidence of a service (even receipts for parts) would be a start.

BMJD · 07-02-2014 2:46pm

I'd probably walk away tbh, it's only 6 years old, it should have some history with it, at least for the first 3 or 4 years.

You may be able to contact the original garage it was purchased from to see if they have soime service history for it, along with the first NCT cert from 2012. Between these you should be able to see if the mileage adds up.

However, the fact that the seller can't be arse doing this himself would put me off, either he's too lazy or he is hiding something.

toyotaavensis · 07-02-2014 2:47pm

He probably meas that you can check the milage on the odometer the ecu and the key.

OP this car is the one with the timing chain issues. If there is no service history you need to forget about it.
It also has issues with the turbo giving up.

djimi · 07-02-2014 2:50pm

The mileage isnt what worries me (its not especially low as it is for a 5 year old car). Id be more worried about whether or not the thing was actually serviced!

mickdw · 07-02-2014 3:13pm

Walk away and give someone with a genuine car and history a few more euro. At least you will know what you have. Would you ever be sure if there was 68k miles or 200k miles on that.
Proof of mileage will amount to 1 nct cert with mileage reading Im thinking.

renofan · 07-02-2014 3:21pm

There are plenty of E90's around so why you'd buy a relatively new one with no history is beyond me. Who knows what the seller may be hiding.

Only cars I'd buy without a history are bangernomics where the price of the car isn't going to break you if it is a lemon.

bazz26 · 07-02-2014 3:47pm

Mileage is stored in 3 places on the E90. It's stored in the car's ECU, odometer in the dash and on the key fob. Ask the seller if he would not mind you having the car inspected by a BMW dealer. They can scan the key fob and should be able to tell you if there is a discrepancy between all 3 sources. Also €10k seems on the cheap side for one of these given the alleged low mileage and cheap tax.

Another concern here would be the potential for the timing chain on that engine to break and then get stuck with a large repair bill. Just google "BMW N47 timing chain failure". Something you should be fully informed about before deciding to buy one of these cars.

fisher8181 · 07-02-2014 3:49pm

Thanks for the advise guys. Gonna walk from this one

toyotaavensis · 07-02-2014 3:51pm

toyotaavensis wrote: »

He probably meas that you can check the milage on the odometer the ecu and the key.

OP this car is the one with the timing chain issues. If there is no service history you need to forget about it.
It also has issues with the turbo giving up.

bazz26 wrote: »

Mileage is stored in 3 places on the E90. It's stored in the car's ECU, odometer in the dash and on the key fob. Ask the seller if he would not mind you having the car inspected by a BMW dealer. They can scan the key fob and should be able to tell you if there is a discrepancy between all 3 sources. Also €10k seems on the cheap side for one of these given the alleged low mileage and cheap tax.

Another concern here would be the potential for the timing chain on that engine to break and then get stuck with a large repair bill. Just google "BMW N47 timing chain failure". Something you should be fully informed about before deciding to buy one of these cars.

great minds think alike

MarkR · 07-02-2014 4:01pm

Car's last transfer of ownership was only back in December.

Anan1 · 07-02-2014 4:07pm

MarkR wrote: »

Car's last transfer of ownership was only back in December.

I'd say the seller's a small time dealer - look at the carpet protector in the drivers footwell.

Idbatterim · 07-02-2014 4:17pm

Id probably walk, but if you are interested, simply call the dealership where it was purchased new, give the reg and they should be able to tell you the work that has been done, services etc. up to a few weeks ago, it was a 4 year old car, Id expect a main full dealer service history to be honest...

Car with no service history

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