Car buying advice needed

[chappardababbar]

Hi, new member here looking for an RS4 as our only family car. Following on from my first post in the classifieds section (WTB RS4 Avant) I thought I'd seek some opinions and advice on a car I'm looking at:

Black RS4 Avant

The car comes with 6 months warranty and the garage will do a de-coking for at a trade price. It is on the original suspension, front discs and pads were done 10k miles ago, they will check rears and replace if required. The car comes with nothing in the way of receipts or evidence of money spent. I got the number of the garage that had looked after the car for the last 5 years from the dealer and I spoke to someone who knew the car and assured me it was a good one and that the previous owner had always had everything that needed doing, done.

How would you go about assessing this car? The spec meets my requirements so I feel like I'm going to do something reckless if I go to see the car and I like it. Is it known to anyone on this forum (I know the previous owner's name was Jason). The dealer seems straightforward and they are familiar with the common issues on these cars. Do you think it's crucial to test drive the car before I buy it...after all it does come with a pretty comprehensive warranty.

The bodywork on the car looks great. Is it necessary you think to get the car on a ramp and have a poke around underneath?

Is an aftermarket warranty recommended at this point when the cars are 7+ years old. Mondial?

Any advice is appreciated

Yasir

[miatang]

Personally I wouldn't buy any car without testing driving it. I'm sure the dealer will let you have a drive if they think your a potential buyer. If they dont then I would walk away.

Can the dealer who did the work provide you with any paperwork to show the work and services done?

With regards to 3rd party warranty Mondial is who most of the manufacturers use for their extended warranty and for me would be a must as bills on a V8 could get very expensive.

Lovely car though. Hope it works out for you mate

[mustdash]

A test drive is a must. If they refuse you a drive you've got to ask what they're hiding.

Personally it sounds a bit fishy - there's nothing in the way of receipts for any work yet they can tell you when the front disks were changed? Maybe it's the cynic in me though. What sort of decoke are they doing - a Terraclean job or a proper job?