So I got a car from the dealership second hand about a month ago but found out the logbook hadn’t been updated by them to change the owner to me

What does this mean in terms of fines and speeding tickets if any, do they still apply to me and if so how do I find out Read more

Chatting to a good friend earlier today and the subject of cars as per usual crops up. He casually explains (after me enquiring about the cost) that he has never had his three year old BMW 435d serviced to date. Now this car is on a very costly PCP and will have to be returned at the end of year 4 in retailable condition and one thing the dealer will be looking for is the service history. I explained that he’ll be billed for it which will mean any saving will be wiped out as the car is now substantially devalued and no longer suitable to be sold as an approved used example meaning it’ll end up at auction despite him having looked after the body and interior to a very high standard. Who’d buy a 4yr old twin turbo prestige car like this with no history?

Now here’s the rub for the rest of us. I noticed in my latter years in the trade while skulking around auction halls (more for the chat and the cheap grub than actually buying owt) that the dregs of the industry were no longer attempting to mess with mileages in a big way. Yes you’ll get the occasional car having the last years mileage turned back to something close to the last Mots but big scale clocking is largely over, it’s too easy to catch them out with a quick Mot history check. Do watch for cars that’ve done a very low mileage in the last year however as it’s quite common to see maybe 10k or so scrubbed. You’ll see them having travelled mysteriously low mileages in the last year. There’s loads of dodgy firms offering “mileage correction” services and all of them should be jailed. There’s no reason to alter a mileage. But adding value by clocking is rare today. Faking service histories is however rife.

I’ve often seen cars that I’ve watched go through the ring with hardly a service stamp if any appear shortly after at a backstreet dealer suddenly with a full service record that’ll no doubt persuade a buyer to part with hundreds if not thousands (in the case of performance and prestige models) extra for a car that has in reality been neglected. It’s the new way to add value and is much harder to catch the rogue dealer at it. How do you prove who did it?

I used to work for a guy who bought a stamp on EBay with a random made up garage name on it to stamp up the book in his cars which were all fairly new performance models. He rarely kept them any longer than 2-3yrs but some poor soul would buy it thinking it’s a full history car. Another has a friend that works in a large national chain who stamps her book up before it’s returned at the end of contract.

Looking at cars for friends and family has shown few that have genuine or appropriate service records. I’ve seen prestige four wheel drives that’ve been “serviced” at fast fit centres and dodgy backstreet workshops neither of whom have the first clue what they’re doing with heavy metal like this. Often I’ll see small dealers stock that have all fully stamped up books all using the same stamp, even the books aren’t the originals but something easily bought online or through the trade and quickly stamped up to add value, one locally just hand writes in all the service books through his door and no one bats an eye.

Today few actually own a car from new, the vast bulk are rented on PCP or contract lease and the absolute bare minimum is done to them regarding maintenance and repairs. From cheap paint repairs to rubbish tyres and ignored servicing, buying a good used car is actually more difficult thanks to the modern way cars enter the market today. No one cares because it’s not their property, they’ll never own it.

Excuse the rambling but essentially what I’m saying is that you need to verify not only if a car has been clocked, been in an accident or if there’s any outstanding finance, you also need to verify (certainly in the case of high end stuff) that it’s actually seen spanners and fresh oil in its life. Look at the service book. Check the cars details inside, do they match the car? A common trick is to steal service books from other cars at auction and at other dealers to put in their stock. I’ve caught a fair few out doing this. You want to see legitimate looking dealer stamps but even that’s not enough on high end cars, you need to find out if that servicing garage even exists and if they’ve ever seen the car by calling their service dept to check their records. Don’t call the number in the service book, look it up online and call otherwise it’s likely you’ll be getting through to Joe Bloggs in the next office.

I’ve encountered loads of cases of this in recent years. One an E46 M3 BMW I was tasked with finding for a friend. While I was looking he found one in a private sale which I had passed by because it sounded wrong in the advert and the address was as rough as it gets. We turned up and were presented with a very tidy example with sensible miles and a full service record. A quick google of the supposed servicing BMW specialist however revealed that they’d never seen the car despite the multiple stamps in the book apparently from them. Another was a Lotus Elise again with a faked specialist history and a BMW 320d with a genuine main dealer fully stamped history book that was from another car. This one is quite common, I’ve seen it numerous times with service books that have been pinched from other cars either by the dealer themselves or the previous keeper to avoid a penalty at the end of their lease. It’s easy done, they go view a similar car and lift it. Many dealers I know no longer leave the service books in the cars for this reason.

As ever be wary. Everyone is out to con you. Whether it’s the dodgy backstreet dealer flogging high end prestige metal you shouldn’t even consider on your budget or the private punter who’s refused to maintain their hired car properly over the 3-4yrs they’ve been abusing it. Always do your homework and seek the advice of someone who’s seen it all before.



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