Service History

[Bazile]

Should i buy a car from a main dealer , if that car has not got any service history ?

[Canary42]

Depends - I've bought ex-demo cars from Dealers without any service history (i.e. mileage too low) and had excellent results. If it's high mileage then probably not such a good idea. But remember a lot of modern cars can go 15,000 miles before a service.

[Graham-W]

It puts you in a good bargaining position if they can't provide the history.

[Bazile]

What's the average mileage for a petrol car per year

[Canary42]

10-15 thousand I believe is regarded as average.

[Graham-W]

If you're buying it's 15,000.
If you're selling it's 12,000.

[Bazile]

thanks

[TWR]

You can get the cars engine checked Bazile, Clutch wear can sometimes be determined by pedal rubber wear, hand brake travel should be about 5 " Clicks on the handbrake Rachet, Also the Cooling system can be Pressure tested, If you intend to buy, get the car's oil changed / also the G/Box / Cooling System / Brake Fluid, Tyres + Spare for Correct Tyre wear, eg/ there is no un-even wear on the walls of the tyre, this indicates out of Track / shocker / ball Joint wear.

[gingejbee]

One of the advantages of having a service history (apart from the obvious) is that is gives you a mileage vs. time indication. You can see if the car averaged 5k a year or 25k a year. I'd be wondering WHY there was no history from this dealer....have you any other proof that the indicated mileage is genuine?

[MantaRay]

What about the previous MOT certificates? Are they provided to assist with confirmation of the mileage? If there's no documentary evidence of any description it's possible the vehicle has been clocked by a trader somewhere along the line.

[mjwman]

A main dealer will not usually sell cars old enough for MOT so chances are it is not yet due for its first service. Something I would insistn on before purchasing.
My car was 7 months old with 1200 miles direct from Skoda so of course no history.

[gingejbee]

mjw: presumably OP would not have asked the question if the car was so "young" that there would be no service history to view.
Of course, OP hasn't returned since Friday....so we will don't know relevant details.

[Bazile]

I see this is still going .

Basically i'm looking at the websites of various Main dealers ( Ford ) .

There are cars with / without / with some service history .
I saw one which interested me , but noticed that there was no service history mentioned in the ad

Perhaps i should have asked - ' would you buy a car from a main dealer with no service history ?'

mjw

//A main dealer will not usually sell cars old enough for MOT //

that's not correct