If you bought an AUC from a main dealer with 1 year MOT + Service, when would you expect them to be required?

MrRockliffe

MrRockliffe

MrRockliffe

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Would you be happy if the MOT was in 8 months? What about 10?

Same for the service - would you be okay if the next service was in 10 months after buying the car?


The reason I ask is that I was about to buy the Audi service package for my S5, and I noticed that the next service and MOT is due middle of March. I bought the car on the 30th of May, this year.



It's the first time I've bought a car from a main dealer, so was wondering whether this is normal? Or would you expect the service and MOT to be ~12 months from the date of purchase?



Thanks in advance :-)
 
When I bought my last car, it had ten months left on the ticket, I asked for them to get a new one and they were surprised but I got it. They had their own testing place next door so I suspect it was just issued without even being moved from the forecourt but I got what I asked for. I also asked for a full service because it was due and rather than do it themselves, they said I should get it done at the main dealer, send them the receipt and they'd pay it. I dutifully did that and they paid.
 
I presume they did the MOT and service prior to putting it on the forecourt and if it didnt sell for a month or two, it would explain the missing months? If that was the case then I dont really see anything untoward
 
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Bear said:
I presume they did the MOT and service prior to putting it on the forecourt and if it didnt sell for a month or two, it would explain the missing months? If that was the case then I dont really see anything untoward
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Yeah I'm just wondering if it hadn't been sold for another month, would they still say a year service and MOT, even though it would have been 8.5 months?

Wouldn't question it on a 10k car, but at 33k...


Not sure if I'm being pedantic here. Should probably give them a call and find out :)
 
The MOT thing is fairly common if it's got quite a long MOT on it when the car is purchased.

I would never have expected a service due in 10 months to be carried out at the time of purchase. It isn't due?
 
Servicing I would expect to be whenever next due, advertising a car as coming with '1 year service' doesn't really make much sense.

MOT again, when due. If it was advertised as having 1 year MOT though, in that case I'd expect that they'd just had it done and a year was roughly a year.
 
[TW]Fox said:
The MOT thing is fairly common if it's got quite a long MOT on it when the car is purchased.

I would never have expected a service due in 10 months to be carried out at the time of purchase. It isn't due?
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Sorry, perhaps I didn't explain very well

Car is sold with 1 year MOT and 1 year service as part of the AUC package - this suggested to me it would be done at the point where I placed a deposit and they "prep" the car, as per their words.


In reality, it was 9.5 months for each, likely due to the fact the car was serviced and MOTd at the point of them purchasing the car.



Wondering if this is normal, or if it's reasonable for me to expect it to be 11-12 months.
 
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MrRockliffe said:
Sorry, perhaps I didn't explain very well

Car is sold with 1 year MOT and 1 year service as part of the AUC package - this suggested to me it would be done at the point where I placed a deposit and they "prep" the car, as per their words.


In reality, it was 9.5 months for each, likely due to the fact the car was serviced and MOTd at the point of them purchasing the car.



Wondering if this is normal, or if it's reasonable for me to expect it to be 11-12 months.
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If it's sold as having a year on both then that's what I'd expect when I picked it up.
 
Feek said:
When I bought my last car, it had ten months left on the ticket, I asked for them to get a new one and they were surprised but I got it. They had their own testing place next door so I suspect it was just issued without even being moved from the forecourt but I got what I asked for. I also asked for a full service because it was due and rather than do it themselves, they said I should get it done at the main dealer, send them the receipt and they'd pay it. I dutifully did that and they paid.
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I was quite impressed, albeit I am a regular customer, when I bought a car from a Nissan dealer recently - fresh MOT and service, replaced an O2 sensor even though they could have just cleared the warning and it likely wouldn't have come on again for awhile (as many garages will do), new discs and pads though they had at least a couple of thousand miles left in them, did a control arm (which did need doing) and threw in the Scotchgard treatment inside and out for "free" (though I suspect they cost it into the price of their vehicles as it isn't the first time they've done that).

Also came with a year's RAC cover which unfortunately came in handy when I got a puncture :s

Very much not the level of service I've had from VW group dealers I can tell you.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Car is sold with 1 year MOT and 1 year service as part of the AUC package
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Is it though?

I can't find anything on the Audi Approved Used site which claims either of these things are part of the Aproved Used package. The MOT one I can sort of understand as I'd always assumed any used car bought from a dealer would have a new MOT, but the servicing one would particularly surprise me. I've never seen any approved used car advertised with a '1 year service'. The closest I've seen is some manufacturers which say any servicing due within 90 days is carried out, but I just don't see why they'd ever carry out a service 10 months early?
 
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Just gave them a call, and I don't think they understood what I'm saying.

I explained that I bought the car with a year service and MOT, but I've noticed it's actually due 9.5 months after the purchase date.


I got a "yes that's right, as we MOTd the car in March and serviced in April"


So I said that I'm not sure I understand what a 1 year service and MOT includes then, if it isn't actually a year


I got "well it can be sooner than a year if you do 10,000 miles"


I replied saying that if I don't do 10,000 miles, it needs to be done in about 9.5-10 months after I bought the car - this isn't 1 year.



And it kept going round in circles?
 
[TW]Fox said:
Is it though?

I can't find anything on the Audi Approved Used site which claims either of these things are part of the Aproved Used package. The MOT one I can sort of understand as I'd always assumed any used car bought from a dealer would have a new MOT, but the servicing one would particularly surprise me. I've never seen any approved used car advertised with a '1 year service'. The closest I've seen is some manufacturers which say any servicing due within 90 days is carried out, but I just don't see why they'd ever carry out a service 10 months early?
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I couldn't either, but it's definitely a conversation I had with the sales individual - I asked him the benefits of AUC and he said:

1 Year MOT & Service
1 Year warranty


And when I went to buy the car, I couldn't drive it away on the day, as they needed to prep it - I had (wrongly) assumed they must have meant service it and MOT it, as it took 5 days to do whatever they did.


I.e. I thought it would have a service and MOT at the point of deposit.
 
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MrRockliffe said:
But certainly won’t bother with an Approved Used Car again though.
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Because it needs a £40 MOT 4 months earlier than it otherwise would? Which in reality is the only real issue here - as there isn't much of a difference between 10 months and a year in terms of the service.

The main benefit of an approved used car is the manufacturer backed warranty, which presumably you still have.
 
With buying something like a car a bit of give and take you have to expect really with service and MOT but I would expect it to be less than 2 months difference if sold as coming with a year.

As above I've been going off VW group lately though - the dealers and experience in general I've had in more recent years has been quite hands off, lots of fobbing off, and you feel like just another number (at the end of the day that is business but at least some brands try).
 
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[TW]Fox said:
Because it needs a £40 MOT 4 months earlier than it otherwise would? Which in reality is the only real issue here - as there isn't much of a difference between 10 months and a year in terms of the service.

The main benefit of an approved used car is the manufacturer backed warranty, which presumably you still have.
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No, because the general level of service has been poor with Audi.

An example: When I test drove the car, I noticed a chip on the windscreen. I asked them to have it fixed/replaced. They agreed. I forgot to check when I picked the car up, but when I got home to my dads, about 3 minutes away, I noticed it was still there. Rang them immediately and they denied all knowledge of it.

The other thing is they agreed to machine polish it - when I picked it up, it hadn't been, and they advised me it definitely had been polished. Turns out they don't machine polish it, but do it by hand.



Their reaction on the phone to this question is a nail in the coffin, for me. That's all it has been - just a question.


Edit: to add, I was pushed to buy the car before I went to Spain for a month - having it machine polished was the agreement for which I bought the car a month early.
 
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Audi and Merc seem awfully similar. The dealers aren't grown ups anymore but advanced double glazing sales people.

I'm going to try Lexus next I think.
 
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