Low mileage car with services ok on miles but not time

Acme said:
Say what now? :D :rolleyes:

There are tonnes of potential concerns, but you've somehow shot a barrel of fish with a shotgun and missed them all! :p
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Really so calipers won't seize or mechanical moving parts with no movement?

All the fluids will have degraded over time with potential for water to have ingressed and mixed in.

Battery would be long gone which means potential issues with electronics. They don't like being fed low voltages.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Really so calipers won't seize or mechanical moving parts with no movement?

All the fluids will have degraded over time with potential for water to have ingressed and mixed in.

Battery would be long gone which means potential issues with electronics. They don't like being fed low voltages.
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Highly doubt any calipers will be seized on a fairly new low mileage merc which has been sitting, probably inside, for just 2 years, no.

Fluids degrade yes, but oil doesn't really degrade with time and its the only fluid which would have needed replacement during that period.

Battery is a possibility, depends how its been kept.

Significant water ingress into fluids is very unlikely in just 2 years.

I would assume that during that period it will have been started and moved around at the very least anyway, which would further lessen the possibility of those things.

I recently bought a 90's Nissan which had been sitting in storage for 7 years, nothing broken, nothing seized, the oil still looked new like golden syrup, it just had surface rust on disks and other things which usually move, the tyres needed a bit of air, and the battery was weak but not totally flat - it had been disconnected. We charged it up and it has been fine.
 
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Rotty said:
possible but unlikely as the mileages were reported by Mercedes and non one would be daft enough to report zero miles :p
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i agree but digressing slightly in a past life i had to deliver a 2 year old volvo s8o (so was a while ago) back to a lease company.

when arriving at there headquarters was told to pick a spot on the field at the rear to park it.

to my surprise there must have been nearly 200 parked up all around 2 years old.

when i quizzed the manager over it , someone in purchasing screwed up and leased them from volvo at a set mileage over the term. then re leased them on contract to a major uk bank at nearly double the mileage....oops.

hence it was cheaper to bring them in at just below the mileage and park them up, for 12 months , and re lease another vehicle than be stung with extra mileage charges from volvo.

seemed crazy at the time but he showed me the figures and it saved them thousands to do it. plus they were as straight as a die company so would doubt even in days if mileage adjustment would even have been on the horizon.
maybe this merc was on its mileage target and merely parked up, .

or maybe last owner deceased and stuck in probate... bought many cars from next of kins when probate granted and lots were stationary for a while always had to service or have serviced if new enough to get dealer or a stamp in the book. also had quite a few expensive repairs as well through standing so if its not exotic always find another one.
 
Personally I would look around and see if it is a big saving over comparable cars. If it's not then walk away, if it is then decide whether you want to take a risk, bearing in mind it will be you and you alone taking the full blame from your partner if anything goes wrong during the time she has the car :)
 
I may have missed what the car was beyond it be an MB but if it is anything that may be considered a summer car I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. I service my car annually but it is a waste of time really as the 2000 mile old (at most) oil comes out like new. Its not like it even goes through loads of heat cycles as I only really use it for a few months of the year.

Even the two year gap can be excused away on something that is a second car. I nearly didn't bother taking my MX5 off SORN a couple of years because I was overseas for the majority of the summer for example.
 
gc123 said:
i agree but digressing slightly in a past life i had to deliver a 2 year old volvo s8o (so was a while ago) back to a lease company.

when arriving at there headquarters was told to pick a spot on the field at the rear to park it.

to my surprise there must have been nearly 200 parked up all around 2 years old.

when i quizzed the manager over it , someone in purchasing screwed up and leased them from volvo at a set mileage over the term. then re leased them on contract to a major uk bank at nearly double the mileage....oops.

hence it was cheaper to bring them in at just below the mileage and park them up, for 12 months , and re lease another vehicle than be stung with extra mileage charges from volvo.

seemed crazy at the time but he showed me the figures and it saved them thousands to do it. plus they were as straight as a die company so would doubt even in days if mileage adjustment would even have been on the horizon.
maybe this merc was on its mileage target and merely parked up, .

or maybe last owner deceased and stuck in probate... bought many cars from next of kins when probate granted and lots were stationary for a while always had to service or have serviced if new enough to get dealer or a stamp in the book. also had quite a few expensive repairs as well through standing so if its not exotic always find another one.
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This would not surprise me, it’s quite common with leased trucks to get near the laughable mileage limit (set by someone no doubt who had no idea how many miles trucks can rack up) within a couple of years of a 4 year lease and they have their batteries disconnected and they sit out the rest of the term not being used....

Whilst a truck that’s stood for a couple of years wouldn’t worry me, with a car surely it’s just easier to find an alternative that hasn’t...
 
lordrobs said:
I may have missed what the car was beyond it be an MB but if it is anything that may be considered a summer car I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. I service my car annually but it is a waste of time really as the 2000 mile old (at most) oil comes out like new. Its not like it even goes through loads of heat cycles as I only really use it for a few months of the year.

Even the two year gap can be excused away on something that is a second car. I nearly didn't bother taking my MX5 off SORN a couple of years because I was overseas for the majority of the summer for example.
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SLK

a bit more investigation show that the current indy dealer got it from MB Belfast
 
Rotty said:
I am getting a car for the wife

She has found one she likes but I have concerns re the service history

It has 20k miles on and had 2 services at 7k and 20k which is OK mileage wise but it has been significantly missed on time intervals

Would this be a major concern?
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how mjch cheaper was it than others on market ??
 
I bought it, so far I can't fault it. only done 100 miles but it's in fabulous condition and drives great, time will tell

The fact that the time when it hadn't been in use it was in the MB network swung it
 
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