New member seeking advice

[docurley]

I agree if they are going to sell a car for top dollar then you better have the paper to back it up or cut the price.

Now I'm not saying it's not legit and well looked after, but this is quite a specialist car and if it was looked after you would keep the paper work not unless you buy a CAT car then the insurance companies tend not to had over the paper work so a call to Audi will fill in the gaps.

[Surrey Sam]

if I am brutally honest - if I was spending £20k on a car I would want all the paperwork, without it I would walk away.

+3

Interesting thoughts guys.

My black RS4 was purchased without paperwork. It had a fully stamped up service history book, so over a week and probably 3hrs worth of phone calls I was able to substantiate all of the history, recall work and maintenance work. The history was a mixture of main dealer and specialist, so I wouldn't necessarily be put off by no paperwork. The history however should be able to be substantiated by a phone call in my opinion.

As a secondary point, the first two service invoices on my Blue one I cannot obtain from the dealer due to the Data Protection Act despite me having the V5 and ID. The service department got quite shirty with me and said they've had new owners get in contact with previous keepers who didn't wish to be contacted, which is a fair point. I asked them to then cut out the owner’s details from the invoice reprint, yet they still declined. I felt like making a request under the Freedom of Information Act but couldn't be bothered in the end as I felt it wasn't necessary. Another dealer I walked into, happily re-printed an invoice off without seeing any ID or V5!

[obikaii]

I visited this garage late last year when I was looking to get a test drive in an Rs4 before I bought mine,as it was the closest to me & they had 2 of them,both black Avants,I had a good look round both,but unfortunately I test drove the other one,not the one that the op is looking at.
The guy that runs the place seemed like a decent bloke, but he didn't know much about Rs4's I filled him in on the coking issue & drc problems,after I returned from the test drive I asked him if would do a deal,but he wouldn't budge,said he could sell it at the asking price easily,& as I wasn't really after an avant I didnt pursue it.
If I remember correctly,the one I drove was up at £21k & the one the op is after was £24k,so its been reduced,& hes had it for about 2 months.
Its a nice set up they have,some very nice cars,didn't seem like a dodgy outfit at all.

[chappardababbar]

I don't think the outfit is dodgy at all, the guy I'm speaking to comes across very well. They encouraged me to get in touch with the garage and provided the number.

To Sam's point I agree the service history can be ascertained over the phone but I was not able to do it in this case. The car did not have main dealer history in the last 5 years and the garage that looked after the car were happy to talk me through the last service but they were busy and I could not ask them to spend 30 mins with me going through all the details, although perhaps I could have offered to pay an hour's labour rate. hmmmmm

[PetrolDave]

Basically the dealership are saying, we don't have the paperwork

No paperwork - walk away now no ifs, no buts, no maybes.

It means everything they say about servicing and repairs cannot be proven, so it's best to assume that it's not been properly serviced or repaired.

A good RS4 is a joy, but a bad RS4 is a total money pit.

[chappardababbar]

I'm actually struggling to find a good car with detailed history. I've promised myself I need to see paperwork and evidence of repair of common issues but few garages have it.

The issue as I see it, is simply that the car is not old enough to be looked after by enthusiasts...you still have many cars on first or second owners and that are still maintained by the Audi network.

This one is nice: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

But no bills. Same story from the dealership...if anything was wrong with the suspension it would have been picked up by the MOT. If the discs needed doing, we wouldn't have bought the car, anything that needs doing will be done by our 'in house technicians' before it goes....and the car comes with a warranty.

Same with this one: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Great looking car, FASH, spoke to Audi who were very helpful but the only work it's had done outside of usual servicing is replacement of a shock at 37k miles. Dealer says that shows the car has never needed anything major. I say that means a lot of major stuff is coming!

This one again, http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

By the way, they had this one up for 20.9k when I called. Now up for 23k!! I swear RS4 prices have gone up from 2 years ago. Anyway, garage says the car is perfect, no bills no history.

What's annoying is that one of these probably is perfect but I just don't know. I'm thinking to get an AA inspection done. I guess this should cover most things with the exception of de coke?

Yasir

[steview]

If you're looking to spend £23k on a car that may need work in the future, why not buy one for less then you have spare cash in case something does go wrong?
1 or 2 owner cars doesn't mean a lot to me. I've just bought a VW Touareg that has only 2 owners and it looks like it's been lived in by chickens. To some people they're just transport and not seen as something to look after properly. My RS4 has had 4 previous owners and you can see it has been a cared for car. One of the previous owners is also a member of this forum so sometimes these are the best ones to go for regardless of owners or miles. The fact that RossDagley's high mileage cat d car sold so quickly proves the point.
Good luck with your search and be prepared to view a few before deciding.

[JCviggen]

If you're looking to spend £23k on a car that may need work in the future, why not buy one for less then you have spare cash in case something does go wrong?

Precisely. For 20 grand and up I'd want a very nice forum car with some things done to it...

Alternatively get a cheaper one and have money in your pockets to fix and improve things.

[Ian_C]

Difficulty is on the new Audis you don't even get a service book when you buy the car?

"Its all done online now Sir"

Not much help when selling the car privately / trying to buy a car that isn't at an Audi dealership years down the line.....

[marc1]

There's quite a few cars for sale on here at the moment. A low mileage car or car for sale at the higher end of the scale does not safeguard against needing addition work. Buying on condition is key IMO.

[MB2]

Difficulty is on the new Audis you don't even get a service book when you buy the car?

"Its all done online now Sir"

Not much help when selling the car privately / trying to buy a car that isn't at an Audi dealership years down the line.....

They still give you an invoice listing all the work done - which I would expect. TBH a fully stamped book ie easily faked, or many motorbikes are only serviced every few years as do so little mileage so the book may not look up to much, however a fist full of MOTS (of course also on-line now) and invoices would be expected.

I can see it being a big problem for indie garages as the owner less worried about paperwork when chopping in & limited access to Audi systems, private seller should still be able to provide evidence of work done both by Audi & elsewhere in date/mileas order.

[steview]

Mine didn't come with any receipts and a duplicate service book but since it has all Audi history all it took was a visit to my local dealer and all was confirmed. Independent servicing is much harder to prove as I have seen cars with service stamps of bogus garages.
I didn't know mine had been remapped either until speaking to a previous owner on here and he happily provided me with copies of the receipt and dyno run so yes some people keep receipts and some don't.