Buying a car with partial service history

Stuart_P

what are other people's thoughts are about buying a car with only a partial service history. i'm looking at buying my first car which will be used so this is all new to me. majority i've seen come with part service history the odd one or two will come with full. is it worth sticking out and travelling further to get one with a full history?

GunJack

Stuart_P wrote: »

what are other people's thoughts are about buying a car with only a partial service history. i'm looking at buying my first car which will be used so this is all new to me. majority i've seen come with part service history the odd one or two will come with full. is it worth sticking out and travelling further to get one with a full history?

It depends on many things, how much are you looking to spend? The cheaper the car, the less history it's likely to have, but if you're only spending a couple of hundred quid, not so important.

Don't forget, if it's your first car, your insurance will be horrendous. Be prepared to spend more on the insurance than you're paying for a car, at least until you have several years NCD under your belt..

Stuart_P

thanks for replying

i've got a budget for the car of £2500. i'm 47(!) and insurance works out about £320 fully comp

System

DO NOT FALL INTO THE LOW MILEAGE TRAP. Cars that are low mileage for their age have either done lots of short journeys or spent long times stood, neither of which are good for a car. Look for something that's averaged at least 10,000 miles a year, don't be afraid of 100,000 mile plus cars as long as they come with service history.

Stuart_P

i have seen at a few 100,000 cars on autotrader that appealed to me but most come with part service history so i thought i'd ask about here see if the full service history is worth it

martinthebandit

With your budget, if you want 'worry free motoring' my advice would be to spend £1000 on the car, £500 ish on a full service and any repairs that may be needed and put the other £1000 in the bank for any emergency repairs that may be needed down the line.

mattyprice4004

Means absolutely nothing, especially at this price point.
I have a tatty, battered BMW 330d with 277,000 miles on the clock - got about half of the history for it but big chunks missing. Runs like clockwork, and still delightfully nippy when needed

GunJack

martinthebandit wrote: »

With your budget, if you want 'worry free motoring' my advice would be to spend £1000 on the car, £500 ish on a full service and any repairs that may be needed and put the other £1000 in the bank for any emergency repairs that may be needed down the line.

^^^^ this, in principle.... if you're going to spend a bit on sorting it out (whatever you get) you could even go several hundred cheaper on the purchase - there are lots of good motors out there well under £1k

jimjames

Some great replies above, I use similar philosophy.

The thing I'd add is to investigate what part/full service history means. Different people can define it as different things! I've bought cars that have been sold as having part service history where it was one invoice missing from 10 years ago.

I've seen others described as full service history which was true - it was a full record of all servicing done - there just weren't very many services that they'd had carried out.

The important thing to check with any servicing is what is due next and when. If cambelt or major service is due soon then it gives you a bit more leverage on the price.

eamon

In 2008 I bought a mondeo 1.8LX for just over 3k, no service history (but may well have been in the Ford dealer database). Everything checked out such as HPI check and a good visual inspection and test drive and I owned it for 8 years only let me down once with a dead battery. Would probably still have it but for my needs changing.

As with other posters its nice to see a fully stamped serice book and paperwork for everything else, sometimes its just not available.