How important is service history?

[Stustafford21]

Afternoon all,

Currently trying to find the right car for me and spotted a 2.5SI, circa 70k car in what I view as a desirable colour. Issue being as per the title little to no service history looks really tidy, roof motor moved, brake lines down recently etc.

How much would this bother you on a let’s say 4.5k car?

Thanks

 

[brillomaster]

its a nice to have, but its not the most important thing IMO.

i would want to know why it has no service history, and also, when was it last serviced. MOT history can also tell you something about a cars history.

 

[enuff_zed]

Honestly, never bothered me that much either.
It is useful if you are buying a model of car that has known potential issues, so you can see if these have been addressed. For example a car that must have very regular oil changes, but no evidence that they've been done.
However, I think most of the regular maintenance issues centre on the engines. Other stuff like suspension, brakes etc. are more or less consumable items anyway. It wouldn't put me off. It has played to my advantage in the past though. I knocked a price down on the grounds the suspension must be well past its lifespan, knowing I could easily change it. The seller had no idea if anything had ever been done to it. Got the car home and found it was all less than 3 years old!
I would closely at the MOT history though. Any advisories that appear two years running point to a less than enthusiastic owner, particularly for something like a Z4 which is more often than not an enthusiast's car.
As with all these things, it's a balancing act of price over potential problems, but I doubt there'd be much wrong. Anything bad enough to cause you issues should show up when you look at it and give it a test drive.
Another factor is how much work you could do yourself. What may seem trivial to me would quite possibly incur a big bill for someone who has to take it to a garage.

 

[Stustafford21]

Thanks both for the responses. Service history seems to have gone awol during the last change of owner, a promise to send on from a trader and never arriving.

MOT history isn’t too bad, however on second inspection road wheels slightly distorted doesn’t fill me with confidence. It’s on 108’s, is this a common issue? Also due MOT next month, which again isn’t ideal.

Starting to feel it’s mounting up and don’t feel I could negotiate enough off to keep me happy

 

[maxman]

Get the sellar to put a fresh mot on,if he won’t then walk away. In my opinion 108 style wheels are more trouble than most other wheels with corrosion etc.

 

[enuff_zed]

Thanks both for the responses. Service history seems to have gone awol during the last change of owner, a promise to send on from a trader and never arriving.

MOT history isn’t too bad, however on second inspection road wheels slightly distorted doesn’t fill me with confidence. It’s on 108’s, is this a common issue? Also due MOT next month, which again isn’t ideal.

Starting to feel it’s mounting up and don’t feel I could negotiate enough off to keep me happy

I would ask for it to be MOT'd. If they say no then walk away.
As for the wheels: there are always good sets of alloys for sale on this forum and elsewhere. 108s are quite sought after, even though they may need refurbishing. My point is, you could pick up a different set of wheels and recoup some of the cost by selling on the 108s.
I picked up a fair set of MV1s with legal tyres locally on Gumtree for £100. They can go on wifey's Z for the winter while I get her MV2s refurbed, then I'll probably get my money back by selling them on.
All depends how much flex the seller has to allow for these issues.

 

[enuff_zed]

Get the sellar to put a fresh mot on,if he won’t then walk away. In my opinion 108 style wheels are more trouble than most other wheels with corrosion etc.

Ha! Great minds think alike

 

[Mr Tidy]

The fact that the roof motor has been moved suggests it has had at least one enthusiast owner.

The missing history wouldn't bother me too much if I was happy with the car in every other respect, but I'd also want a new MOT.

I sold a set of tidy 108s with tyres on here for £300 in 2018 if that helps with the numbers.

 

[Wwesty]

100% on the fresh MOT suggestion.
2 cars, one with and one without then fsh will win. But, just stamps in a book don’t = fsh in my book.
History is the key for an older car. Lots of receipts for work done is what I look for.

 

[buzyg]

Depends what your like with cars. Condition is usually the most important indicator of a good/bad car. Is it tidy under the bonnet, but not just been jet washed etc. If you know what your looking at, then no history is less likely to catch you out. But it's an added risk, so be sure it's the one for you and that it's value for money. As others say. Get them to MoT it. For that budget there will be others out there.

 

[Zulu4]

You can call BMW UK who can tell you dates of visits it has had to the main dealer network. Sadly they can't tell you what was done to the car, but if it went in once a year at the same month it should be fairly obvious that it was serviced.
You can then try calling the actual main dealer where it was serviced but for some bizarre reason they seam to delete the service history after a few years.

 

[Ole gits rule]

I called the dealer before I bought mine, they had the history of the car while they serviced back to 2012, just purchased a book at £16 from them they added the stamps.

Got receipts for the rest of the non franchise stuff plus two additional stamps from my ownership

 

[Stustafford21]

Cheers for all the responses. In typical fashion I’ve gone in a totally different direction and bought a different one. Higher mileage and a few bits to tidy up but full history and a fairly decent MOT history. Oh and it was a good chunk less money :driving:

Arriving later today so looking forward to getting started in Z ownership.

 

[Argyll Andy]

Cheers for all the responses. In typical fashion I’ve gone in a totally different direction and bought a different one. Higher mileage and a few bits to tidy up but full history and a fairly decent MOT history. Oh and it was a good chunk less money :driving:

Arriving later today so looking forward to getting started in Z ownership.

Congratulations, let the spending begin :lol:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Arriving later today so looking forward to getting started in Z ownership.

Congratulations.

Hopefully you'll post a photo or two when it stops raining!

 

[Stustafford21]

Cheers, currently reading up on non run flats as really not a fan after a quick trip round the lanes near me. Will get a thread up at some point, along with the substantial shopping list of bits I want :rofl: