I went to look at a car which looked good value, being sold by a main dealer. It was 13 months old/13,000 miles.
Two things put me off - the first was that it had spent its year as a hire car and so the interior was a bit tired. The second was that it had been late getting its service (was due at 1yr/10,000 miles but had happened at 13 months/13,000).
To what extent would this affect my ability to claim on the 3-year warranty? The dealer told me I'd be fine as long as the car was being serviced at one of their dealerships, but that seemed to be a bit weak to me (and their dealership is a long way from home).
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The way I see it is, `there are plenty of cars`
Regards
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As oilrag says..
A car salesman will say anything to clinch a sale.
A dealer will do anything to avoid warranty work.
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Perhaps you could ask the dearler that you would intend to have it serviced at? If they confirm in writing that it is ok then nothing to worry about.
I'm sure it will not have suffered mechanically. 3000 miles is not a lot and no doubt there is plenty of contingency in the intervals.
My Focus is due every 12k but has been done at 11, 25 and about to be done at 35 and that's not been any issue. It's hard to get it exactly on especially if you do quite a lot of mileage or drive unpredictable journeys. In order to guarantee myself a loan car I need to book at least 10 days ahead of when I want the car in. In that 10 days I will do 300 miles commuting to and from work but may need to travel to our office in London (maybe even twice) without previous notice, so will do 1300 not 300. That may push it over its interval.
As a hire car it's easy to see the intervals being wrong. It will have been out on a long hire, maybe a week or two, and someone will have done quite a lot of mileage that will take it over its 10k. Then on coming back it was probably a very busy time and faced with the choice of turning a customer away or delaying the service a bit I know what I'd do. Then repeat until they can spare the car for a day!
I really wouldn't worry as long as you can confirm that it will be ok with its warranty.
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Have to say unless its very cheap, i'd give it a wide berth.
For several years i transported hire cars all over the place from branch to branch, and 'twas unbelievable the abuse they suffered, amazing the speed a car can travel over the speed humps in Gatwick rental zone.
Its not always possible to tell from the previous registered owner that a car has in fact been on hire, as some of the hire co's cars are registered with all sorts of names, and then poor unsuspecting soul buys this nice 12 month old (it actually covered those 12000 miles in 3 months but been in a compound for 6 months) 'ex managment' car thats been thrashed mercilessly by all and sundry.
Not to say they arn't sometimes good value, but they do need to be cheap.
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fact its an ex hire car is much bigger issue slightly late service
10 K service on Toyotas is generally on an oil and filter change, and I know
difficulty getting appointment at dealer when I'm likely to be free and
unexpected high milage close to due service
can easily lead to this situation in otherwise well looked after motors
considering many of the fleets are missing the odd services and only doing the even numbers then i dont think this is such a bid deal, 3 K miles late is nothing to worry about
major (even) services missed completely is a different ball game
hire cars can be one extreme to another, friend got an ex-hire car that was six months old that had been hired to one person that whole time, who we knew to be a decent sort, so that particular cheap purchase was a bargain
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I disagree somewhat.
As a general point don?t dismiss hire cars outright.
I had a Mondeo ex hire car and it was faultless.
I?m sure HJ contends that the variety of driving styles they get from new means they are better run in than most.
Obviously don?t buy blind, but as (others have said) if the £ is right, don?t worry about it.
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