Buying second hand hybrid with long time between services

Mildly_Miffed

So let's put all those dates and mileages together...

11/99 - (presumed new)
27/11/20 - 8,377 (service)
21/4/22 - 27,989 (service)
11/22 - 41,425 (mot)
23/11/23 - 62,074 (service & mot)
11/24 - 81,670 (mot)

So the mileages all tie up - 8.5k year 1 (pandemic), 12k year 2 (pandemic), 21k year 3, 21k year 4, 19k year 5
Service gaps - 8.5k/1yr to first service, 20k/18mo to second service, 34k/18mo to third service, ~25k/15mo to fourth service assuming one done now.

The question is whether it was never serviced, or whether it was serviced but that service not documented. The consistency of gaps suggests the former to me.

The more important question is why you are SO invested in THIS particular car that you want to take that gamble, when there's plenty of others on the market...?

oldagetraveller1

The usual Toyota service interval is either 10k miles or 12 months, whichever occurs first. They alternate between full service and intermediate service. An intermediate at the first service, 10k or 12 months.

I would avoid this car because it appears to have not been serviced to manufacturer's recommended intervals.

absolute0

Mildly_Miffed said:

So let's put all those dates and mileages together...

11/99 - (presumed new)
27/11/20 - 8,377 (service)
21/4/22 - 27,989 (service)
11/22 - 41,425 (mot)
23/11/23 - 62,074 (service & mot)
11/24 - 81,670 (mot)

So the mileages all tie up - 8.5k year 1 (pandemic), 12k year 2 (pandemic), 21k year 3, 21k year 4, 19k year 5
Service gaps - 8.5k/1yr to first service, 20k/18mo to second service, 34k/18mo to third service, ~25k/15mo to fourth service assuming one done now.

The question is whether it was never serviced, or whether it was serviced but that service not documented. The consistency of gaps suggests the former to me.

The more important question is why you are SO invested in THIS particular car that you want to take that gamble, when there's plenty of others on the market...?

You are indeed correct, I'm going to draw a line under this one and have been looking for other cars.

We viewed another on Friday, test drove it and was about to buy when I asked to see the service book, they had advertised as 5 services and had confirmed 5 on the phone beforehand. It had only received 4 with a 28k gap in-between services. Walked away frustrated.