Refurbished alloys on used car - warning sign?

Bobjims

I'm going to be viewing a used car soon with low mileage of circa 50,000 miles. The dealer is using the fact that the factory alloys were refurbished as a selling point.

Would this put you off a car? What happened to the alloys to make them that bad in a mere 50,000 miles? Could this be an indication of a mileage discrepancy?

Cartell comes up clean on mileage.

Duke O Smiley

Signifies a caring owner if you ask me

Toyotafanboi

agree with Duke.

doesn't take much to damage a wheel and some wheels (particularly from Japanese manufacturers) can be very prone to corrosion and flaking paint and after 50k may just need a refurb to remain presentable. Same can be said for the Golf mk5 hefeisen wheels and some diamond cut/ polished BMW wheels, they are just prone to going to sh1t if they get so much as a stone chip or a lick of a curb.

Bobjims

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Signifies a caring owner if you ask me

I forgot to mention, its a one owner car but missing service history. The one owner part I verified on cartell but I can't think of any good way of verifying the mileage without a service history. (cartell national mileage register had no data in relation to the car)

JohnBoy26

Bobjims wrote: »

I'm going to be viewing a used car soon with low mileage of circa 50,000 miles. The dealer is using the fact that the factory alloys were refurbished as a selling point.

Would this put you off a car? What happened to the alloys to make them that bad in a mere 50,000 miles? Could this be an indication of a mileage discrepancy?

Cartell comes up clean on mileage.

I once had a car with a genuine 38k miles but the wheels needed to be refurbished because of corrosion which ruined the polished aluminum finish. This was down to a number of factors. Being a know problem with those wheels and uk road salt were the main ones.

Stheno

Bobjims wrote: »

I forgot to mention, its a one owner car but missing service history. The one owner part I verified on cartell but I can't think of any good way of verifying the mileage without a service history. (cartell national mileage register had no data in relation to the car)

Nct certs?!

JoeA3

What's the car?

I've seen cars with less than 2k Kms on them with alloys wrecked. All it takes is a couple of careless parking attempts.

Then there's all the cars these days that come with diamond cut / polished finish and those are a bitch for premature corrosion.

At least in this case the previous owner cared enough to get them sorted. If the rest of the car is mint I'd see it as a very good sign.

bazz26

Who refurbished the wheels? The dealer or the previous owner?

If it was the previous owner it would suggest that they looked after the car. If it was the dealer then it could suggest that the previous owner wasn't the most careful with the car and the dealer refurbished them because they were in such poor condition that it would harm the chances of selling the car on.

Bobjims

bazz26 wrote: »

Who refurbished the wheels? The dealer or the previous owner?

If it was the previous owner it would suggest that they looked after the car. If it was the dealer then it could suggest that the previous owner wasn't the most careful with the car and the dealer refurbished them because they were in such poor condition that it would harm the chances of selling the car on.

The previous owner. Would you be put off by the lack of a service history? 50000 miles on a 9 year old car seems very low. NCT cert from last summer validates current mileage back that far at least.

Why would the service history be missing? The first owner you would think would have at least the initial free main dealer servicing stamps.

GustavoFring

The wheels being done by the previous owner are usually a decent sign. If the car is from the locality it might be worth a call to the nearest dealer of that make to see if they have anything on file.

Bobjims

GustavoFring wrote: »

The wheels being done by the previous owner are usually a decent sign. If the car is from the locality it might be worth a call to the nearest dealer of that make to see if they have anything on file.

It was sold new by Lexus of Wexford. This dealer closed in 2009.

Tigger

i get my wheels refurbed quite often
i think its a good sign

bazz26

I'd try ringing nearby Lexus dealers or current Toyota dealers who may have been Lexus dealers at the time and see if they have any service info on the car. I'd try Lexus Ireland too.

Also how reputable is the dealer who is currently selling the car?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Toyota wheels are notorious for corrosion and flaking paint so the wheels been refurbished is only a good thing regardless of whether the previous owner or dealer done it (seriously don't think it was the dealer though as they generally spend as little as possible to get rid of a car)

I'd be more concerned about lack of service history with a Lexus (especially the 220d model) and I would be more inclined to think it wasn't serviced correctly or regularly and the dealer or previous owner 'accidentally' lost the SH book to hide that fact.

Are you buying it from another Toyota/Lexus dealer? As far as I know if you run the chassis number through their computer system it should show history regardless of where in the dealer network it was serviced. Ring up any Lexus dealer and ask them if that can be done.

If it were me I'd be looking for a 12 month guarantee on the engine and gearbox or walking away.

Notch000

Tigger wrote: »

i get my wheels refurbed quite often
i think its a good sign

its a good sign you dont wash your wheel regularly enough,

goochy

That lexus dealer was run by Doyles I think - don't they have other dealerships ?? kia/ Peugeot ? - you could check - doubt they threw everything out.