Vehicle History

[LYT4X]

What would you consider to be a 'Full History' in these days of scammers, dodgy dealers, and being able to buy a history on the bay of theives?

I have now spent almost a year looking for the right RS2. When someone says they have a full history, I DO NOT accept a stamped service book as proof of this. Would you?

Lets say that you were looking at an apparently pristine low mileage example of an RS2 with an engine bay like showroom, and the owner tells you that, as well as having his own miniature steam cleaner, the cars history consists of "a stamped audi service booklet and a few invoices".

Would you be interested in paying over double the going rate for such???

[Knight Rider S4]

I would get audi dealers to check the car reg for the best check as they will have the history of the car for all the services it has had done

[anton]

in my opinion it depends on the circumstances, for instance in your example i'd expect every single scrap of invoice/mot but on say a normal goo condition S2 with 'full service history, i would not be surprised if most of the earlyer mots and a number of invoices were missing, although i still expect a good number of them!!

personally i dont have to much respect for service books, only reciepts and even then it wouln't convince me. my old car had a full service booklet with every stamp from the main dealer, but turned out the last major service had never been done and the guy had forged the stamps

Ant

[Jas11n]

Invoices for me, you can easy enough design and order online, a service type stamp for peanuts. I've seen Audi branded dealers stamps for sale on ebay (and reported them for removal)

Invoices anyday.

Jase..

[Rusty]

My car had a fully stamped service book, useless. The folder of receipts I now have along with a history of my own and photos of some of the work mean a lot more IMO. Ultimately you've got to trust the seller, like the car or just decide to replace everything to get the car back to feeling like new... I'm nearly there and what a difference

[Acidburn]

I think what both jas and andy said is quite good.

the dealers should be able to help out as mentioned.

Invoices are what I would go for and I got loads with mine

[spink]

there is a customer service number you can ring which you can supposedly get the info for free although in my experiance it has been useless as none of the cars i have asked about were on their database

[Error404]

Given the state of some work you see done by even main dealers, service history isn't normally worth the paper its written on unless by a reputable specialist IMHO.

[stiglet]

I would agree, invoices are important HOWEVER more importantly is WHO you are buying the car from.

In the past i've been duped a few times despite seeing invoices and service history, and the guy was always a shady character. You know you just get that feeling sometimes when someone is lying to your face! However, my most recent Coupe is (read "was") immaculate and had really been cared for well, and after owning the car for just a few months I could tell this. But there wasn't a lot of history at all. The guy I bought it from was just a very genuine, nice guy.

[wilywyg]

I just got my first RS2 with full audi history and a load of paper work.

Its not worth the bog paper its writern on. the car was only serviced in march and done 500 mile since. the plugs were loose and the rest it has already cost me £800 in parts alone,.
dont trust anyones word for it unless you do it your self ,or have the car for a half a day and go over it with a fine comb. never take cars like ours to a main dealer in my experiance . they dont understand............

money grabbing turds

[Graham]

I got my car with a folder including the original delivery receipt, and every MOT, road tax, and invoice for everything from a warranty clutch replacement to the leather key ring i got with the keys, to every set of tyres it has had. The folder was devided into years and has every piece of paperwork from every year. As i now do all the work on the car as the twice it has been into a garage they have flucked up, i now continue with the receipt and invoice filing.

[dubmeister]

As said above, EASY to forge dealer stamps etc- anyway most of the dealers have never seen an RS2 anyway. I would rather see a specialist service history, by someone that actually knows and works on I5's.

One thing that i use in work is the VOSA site to find out cars previous MOT history- you need the vehicle reg, mot cert. no or the document no. off the V5.
This gives all the past mot info since computerisation ( no use if its sat in a barn for the last 10 yrs!) mileage, where it was done, any failures, advisories etc.
Quite useful when looking at a used car- mate looked at a cheap car the other day,taxed, but no mot- we checked it out and found out that it had just been tested- failed with about £600 worth of work needed.............. he didnt buy it!

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

If you don't have much history with your own car try it- can make interesting reading!!
HTH