Would you buy it ? A3 S Line - missing service History

[burnleynotbarcelona]

2013 plate A3 S Line, in warranty until next May.
Has Sat Nat, not sure of any other optional specs.
Mileage 44.2k
Two front Alloys have been refurbed (by the dealership selling it) - they've done a good job.
It's immaculate inside. Some chipping marks and one small dint on the exterior.
Serviced at 38k (Audi dealership). But no record of any previous Audi servicing (I've checked with Audi)
Spoke to a local garage owner yesterday who said he only knew of one instance, over a number of years, where Audi had not honoured the warranty because of missing service history.

It's for sale at approx 1k less than most comparable models I can find. It's also fairly local to me.

Would you buy it ? Or not touch it with the preverbial ?

(Sorry for yet another question)

 

[leosayer1]

Can you phone the previous owner to find out if it was serviced before, maybe outside the Audi network? 38k is way too long to go without an oil change.

You spoke to Audi about the service history - did you ask them about whether the warranty would be honoured without the history? I doubt they would for major stuff like an engine failure.

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

Can you phone the previous owner to find out if it was serviced before, maybe outside the Audi network? 38k is way too long to go without an oil change.

You spoke to Audi about the service history - did you ask them about whether the warranty would be honoured without the history? I doubt they would for major stuff like an engine failure.

Thanks for the reply, I doubt the garage would give me the previous owner's details. Audi were unable to confirm re the warranty.
It may well have been serviced just not by Audi - thing is it looks like it's been looked after (just based on the interior).

 

[SINGHY]

If it's only 1k less than what you'd pay for one with FSH then I don't think it's worth risking it. Better off getting one with FSH and no doubts over the provenance, a bit of haggling with an Audi dealer might even get you closer to the price of this one. Good luck pal.

 

[Tfsi gone]

Agree with SINGHY.
Unless you have confirmation and documents showing that its been serviced in-accordance with Audi oil specs I would walk away. On an older car it may be different story but on a newer car still in warranty it would be a minefield if something did go tits up..

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

Thanks for the advice, as you say it's probably best left. Might consider again the SE with the black edition alloys that I posted about in my "are these Audi alloys ?"
Have to say this forum has been a great find whilst I've been looking around for a used A3.

 

[mtips83]

No service history, refurbed alloys, dent on exterior. I'd be worried of how the previous owners treated it. If it was me I'd walk away

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

To be fair alot of the A3s (2013 generally) I've seen are in need of a refurb - probably looked at about about 10 to date and there's only been one with totally unblemished alloys.

 

[Tfsi gone]

Alloys are not the concern mate. Dare I say it had a woman owner
The main concern is the service history. Cosmetics can be fixed. Poor maintenance definitely not...

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

Alloys are not the concern mate. Dare I say it had a woman owner
The main concern is the service history. Cosmetics can be fixed. Poor maintenance definitely not...

Absolutely. I was just referring to curbed alloys not necessarily being an indicator of neglect as most I've seen have been a bit ragged.

 

[mister.c.]

When folks are saying 'no service history' what exactly do you mean? What service(s) have actually not been documented?
It was serviced 6k miles ago at 38k miles. So it has had a recent (2015) Audi service. What service was that? Full service including oil? What did they find wrong then?

Is the car on long life servicing? Is it a diesel?Has it 'missed' 4 services or 3 or 1 - and could that 1 be the 'poxy' / superficial non oil change service? Has it missed an oil service at all..?
If 1 then at some point say middle of 2014 a non oil service was missed? Or was it missed? Have you looked at the supporting service book at all? Does it show any non Audi dealership garage service?

You will always get a don't touch this from folks here given what you have typed. Which I understand. But this could be as little as 1 service not being done at an Audi garage but done elsewhere or as bad as 2 or 3 services missed. Or somewhere in-between. More information allows for more informed decision making. And better decision making than just asking a 'would you touch a non fully serviced vehicle car' posed on a forum.

 

[Tfsi gone]

If there's no evidence in any servicings being carried out upto 38k would you buy it? I know I wouldn't! It may be an over type and maybe it has had servicings but for a 1K saving I know what I would do...

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

When folks are saying 'no service history' what exactly do you mean? What service(s) have actually not been documented?
It was serviced 6k miles ago at 38k miles. So it has had a recent (2015) Audi service. What service was that? Full service including oil? What did they find wrong then?

Is the car on long life servicing? Is it a diesel?Has it 'missed' 4 services or 3 or 1 - and could that 1 be the 'poxy' / superficial non oil change service? Has it missed an oil service at all..?
If 1 then at some point say middle of 2014 a non oil service was missed? Or was it missed? Have you looked at the supporting service book at all? Does it show any non Audi dealership garage service?

You will always get a don't touch this from folks here given what you have typed. Which I understand. But this could be as little as 1 service not being done at an Audi garage but done elsewhere or as bad as 2 or 3 services missed. Or somewhere in-between. More information allows for more informed decision making. And better decision making than just asking a 'would you touch a non fully serviced vehicle car' posed on a forum.

Thanks for the input.
It's a 1.6 TDI first registered in May 2013. It had a long life service at 38k in January 2015 at Harrogate Audi. It's for sale at a BMW (Mini) main dealer, they took it in as a part ex. I haven't checked yet what sort of inspection they give their used cars. I've not ware of any documentation re non-audi servicing, at least the dealership didn't mention any.
Unfortunately the only thing I'm ever going to know for definite, unless I can locate the previous owners (2), is that it's only been serviced once by Audi to date. I'd hope that the service in January would have highlighted any issues, brought on by possible non-servicing previously, but obviously not guaranteed !

 

[matts1]

What are your plans for the car, long term keeper or sell in a year or so?

I ask as when you come to sell, the buyer will have the same doubts and it will see the sale price drop! The car will no doubt be ok, but a garage servicing are very unlikely to pick up on issues caused by poor servicing unless something had broke. BMW Mini are unlikely to bother taking on an issue car to prep and sell and rather punt out to auction but again, only if something was clearly wrong will be picked up.

2 owners, missing early service history and only £1k cheaper than rivals? Might be one to miss.

That said, if, IF you can haggle the cost down and it is a car you intend to get your monies worth out of then it might be worth a punt, there are more coming on to the market all the time though, so maybe hold out for the right car?

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

What are your plans for the car, long term keeper or sell in a year or so?

I ask as when you come to sell, the buyer will have the same doubts and it will see the sale price drop! The car will no doubt be ok, but a garage servicing are very unlikely to pick up on issues caused by poor servicing unless something had broke. BMW Mini are unlikely to bother taking on an issue car to prep and sell and rather punt out to auction but again, only if something was clearly wrong will be picked up.

2 owners, missing early service history and only £1k cheaper than rivals? Might be one to miss.

That said, if, IF you can haggle the cost down and it is a car you intend to get your monies worth out of then it might be worth a punt, there are more coming on to the market all the time though, so maybe hold out for the right car?

Thanks. My current car I've had 6 years, previous one over 5 years. I'd intend keeping it for similar. Yes, I certainly won't be rushing into things particularly approaching end of August /Sept - assuming it should be a reasonable time of year for purchasing second hand.

 

[S32B]

2013 plate A3 S Line, in warranty until next May.

It will not be in warranty because as soon as anything goes wrong they will say that the warranty is void because it hasn't been serviced on time.

Would you buy it ?

No, spend a bit more and be safe knowing it's got a full main dealer history. It's cheaper because it hasn't got a FSH, so when you trade it in X years down the line it will be worth less for that reason!

(Sorry for yet another question)

Never be sorry to ask questions, that is what forums are for

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

It will not be in warranty because as soon as anything goes wrong they will say that the warranty is void because it hasn't been serviced on time.


No, spend a bit more and be safe knowing it's got a full main dealer history. It's cheaper because it hasn't got a FSH, so when you trade it in X years down the line it will be worth less for that reason!


Never be sorry to ask questions, that is what forums are for

All good advice. Not sure resale is my biggest concern though - it will probably be eight years old at least before I come to sell it and it would have been serviced correctly for about seven of those years.
Can't say I wouldn't be tempted if they were to reduce it significantly although I doubt they will do that to be honest. My take on this is that there's always other cars coming along.

 

[dts439]

If you intend to keep the car a long time then might as well wait for the right one. Cars are normally 'cheap' for a reason.

Did the service book have anything on it other than the 38k service ? (assume its early enough to have a proper service book rather than purely digital?).

Good luck with the search anyway.

 

[batch]

That mileage, that lack of ASH, the little nicks here and there, and the recent long life service - quite possibly been part of a large company fleet with in-house workshop (thinking government/police/highways or something?)

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

That mileage, that lack of ASH, the little nicks here and there, and the recent long life service - quite possibly been part of a large company fleet with in-house workshop (thinking government/police/highways or something?)

Could well be. It was part ex'd by a private buyer, presumably the 2nd owner who had it serviced at 38k this January, so the original owner ?
The boot (and interior generally) looked immaculate, infact the boot looked barely used - so, one person car ?

 

[Dtwm1]

Possible ex hire car? Tell tail is if the reg starts F/G sometimes K not a dead cert but not a common plate round burnley.

 

[SINGHY]

Some Audis with the prefix FV have been known to be ex lease cars to hire companies. I know because I bought one and had some issues with it resulting in it being rejected.

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

It's prefix is YY - which makes sense as it's at a garage in Harrogate and was serviced this year at Harrogate Audi.
Thanks for the info though - looked at another A3 a couple of days back prefixed FY - previous owner was private but the first owner was a company (may have been Hitachi Finance) - looked like it had been based at different locations going on the garage on the reg plate and the docs I saw.

 

[Dtwm1]

O is also a common lease/rental/ex management car for Audi and jaguar Land Rover. My local europcar had a monsoon s3 hb that was ov64 this morning

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

I probably underestimated the price differential between this and others for sale (nationally) of the same model. For the most part it's at least 1.5k and upwards of 2k.
There's a couple around the same price - one's with Hertz Rental, allegedly it belongs to an employee - done 34k on a 14 plate.
The other one is a 63 plate - not 2 years old until Sept and done 17.4k i.e been chopped in immediately prior to it's first long life service...Looks ok (ish) but not not sure if I'm up to driving 170 miles to find out...

 

[steeve]

No SH no warranty, I know of other VAG customers have definitely suffered this with no discussion what so ever

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

No SH no warranty, I know of other VAG customers have definitely suffered this with no discussion what so ever

It had a long life service at Harrogate Audi (confirmed with them) in January of this year. So, by definition, it does have Audi service history - it's whether part service history is a invalidation. I've been told not but that might be just anecdotal.

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

So, moved on from the one with the incomplete Audi service history.
Now looking at two other 1.6 tdi S Lines:
13 Plate, Brilliant Black - done 20k approx. Looks like a Lancs registration (PE), serviced by Audi, Chingford and for sale in the Midlands - so been around abit, suggestion it may have been on lease to BT ??
14 Plate, Shiraz Red - done 34k. Owned by a hire car company (employee of - not a Ex Rental car !) motorway miles.
Both have Audi service history, both around same price. Decisions, decisions - must admit do like the Shiraz red, and didn't particularly want a black car, but don't want to be swayed by the colour.
The age old question - newer car or lower mileage ?

 

[veeeight]

Newer car will have DAB fitted as standard
Maybe a few other things too.

 

[naughts4187]

Shiraz red, nice colour, now not in production so you won't see many around.
Also on the previous car, YY is York Audi. Beverly office.

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

Newer car will have DAB fitted as standard
Maybe a few other things too.

The 13 plate has DAB - I think it came I as standard in June (ish) 2013 and it's later than that.

 

[burnleynotbarcelona]

Shiraz red, nice colour, now not in production so you won't see many around.
Also on the previous car, YY is York Audi. Beverly office.

Yes, do like the colour. It's also on "deselection of sports suspension" which, I think, is tempting for the a man of my years ;-)

 

[naughts4187]

Yes, do like the colour. It's also on "deselection of sports suspension" which, I think, is tempting for the a man of my years ;-)

I almost went with Shiraz initially before my exclusive mess up, then when I went to re-order it was out of production. Go for it. Looks fab in the sun and yet very sophisticated.

 

[matts1]

What money are we talking on these cars, or do you have links?

I am often dubious and an hire car firm selling a car with 34k on and claiming it to be an employee 'motorway miles' car may be true, but the fact that that would help it sell easier than saying it is 'ex hire' , and the fact the fastest car on the planet is a hire car!! would make me very unlikely to want to purchase it.

Have you been checking Lex AutoLease in Birmingham and Coventry, I have two friends with cars from them, both were cheap, both full main dealer history and immaculate. Not a single issue from either in over 2 years for them.

I would NEVER have entertained this sort of place but with the above info, and having been to the onelocal to me a few times the cars are very clean examples and well priced. I am after a a petrol S-line which they don't really do (all seem to be diesel) but well worth a nose on their site.

Regards the miles/age question, it is neither, 100% go on condition, I would rather buy a higher miler than has spent it on motorways and still feels tight and the trim fresh from mostly just sitting in one gear cruisng smooth motoways but has some stone chipping to the front (tell tale of motorway miles), than a town car that feels sloppy and worn from stop start, clutch break, gear use and bumped up and down kurbs, over speed bumps and rough roads, and trim that is more worn from in and out stop and start.

Judge each car on it's own merit. I have watched friends buy the newest car they can for their budget and paid the price in big repair bills for cluthes/turbo etc as the car was 'cheap for a new shape' for a reason!!