No service history

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

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5 Aug 2004
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103
Went and test drove a nice Mondeo estate titanium x sport powershift, good price and spec. Good condition mot history ok.
The dealer could not produce the full service history. It only had the last service invoice. Had 4 previous owners too.
It was really difficult to walk away - my parents pretty much frogmarched me out of their office after accusing the dealer of being dishonest. It is a so much of a deal breaker?, they already offered me 2k p/x for my civic before we started haggling.

http://www.jwmotorsportltd.com/used-FORD-MONDEO-MANSFIELD-Nottinghamshire-982979

Trying to find a non diesel rapid-ish estate for the same price is pretty tough.
 
Good call on parents side...

I'm guessing Mondeo's are not that hard to come by...

Wasn't there a guy recently that did the same and had to rebuild the engine?
 
so 4 previous owners means 5 owners since new in 6 years? seems a lot on a ford Mondeo that most people would seem to keep for at least 2-3 years?
 
sports_brah said:
Good call on parents side...

I'm guessing Mondeo's are not that hard to come by...

Wasn't there a guy recently that did the same and had to rebuild the engine?
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He had the 2.5 turbo 5 cylinder AFAIK.

Mondeo Ecoboost 2.0 Titanium X Sport models are pretty rare beasts as I was looking at them before I bought my Focus. There were about seven or eight on AT nationwide so not exactly ten a penny for that spec.
 
Your parents are spot on
4 previous owners in 6 years and missing service history...walk away. It sounds like you are trying to buy with your heart not your head.

7 or 8 on auto trader means availability is fine, particularly if you can hold out for the right one to become available. On a car as common as a Mondeo I'd be wanting 1 or maybe 2 owners and full history.

The history of the car you looked at suggests it's a lemon, ie people haven't kept it long because it's been unreliable and it may have been poorly maintained as it is missing paperwork.
 
just 6 years and no service history would have been enough for me tbh.

Normally wouldn't question it but serviced the mrs. fiat the other week and the oil came out in chunks, it had the original oil filter fitted and the spark plugs had rusted into the head.

Honestly don't think it had been serviced in 10 years so yeah I'd never buy one without service history of at least some age.
 
Towbar fitted (it's had to work at some point), supposedly low mileage, numerous owners and no history.....

If that doesn't shout walk away, I don't know what does.
My 17 year old Volvo has plenty of history to show it's been looked after at a basic level at least, the fact that relatively new car has none tells me it's hiding something.
 
Deuteronomy said:
It was really difficult to walk away - my parents pretty much frogmarched me out of their office after accusing the dealer of being dishonest.
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What happened for them to accuse the dealer of being dishonest?

As for owners - it appears slightly high but cars like these sometimes have a few owners as each one realises that a 2.0 Petrol Auto is not the most economical to run.
 
Find another one. They're rare but they're not that rare.

At that mileage it's not a million miles off being due its second gearbox oil and filter change, and I bet it hasn't even been done once. It's due every 3 years or 37500 miles and is essential in order to maintain smooth and correct operation, especially if it's been towing! The Powershift gearbox is a DSG-style dual clutch auto and not a conventional torque converter unit.

Was the last service stamp from a Ford dealer? You could always ring them and see if it has any other history with their franchise, but still, this in general coupled with the number of owners would put me off.
 
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Richie said:
- it appears slightly high but cars like these sometimes have a few owners as each one realises that a 2.0 Petrol Auto is not the most economical to run.
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If this is true it means it's had a succession of owners unable or unwilling to do basic research before buying a car, or even read simple data.

No thanks.
 
Every car I've ever viewed that had little or no history turned out to be a cat D. Did you run a check on it? I'd be curious as to what its mot history was too, if you have the reg you can check this.

Still think you were right to walk away though.
 
Most of these were registered to Ford as the first owner for a short period, so they will generally be 2 or 3 owners in now.

Unless you're looking for one with many options it shouldn't be too hard to find one, although if you need the Estate that narrows the search a lot.

I wouldn't touch one with no history. On the whole running costs are not too bad, but the gearbox service is £200-£250 every 3 years and that puts a lot of people off and they sell them when it's overdue. If they can find a better car to swap to for £250 I'd like to know what it is!
 
I wouldn't have been fussed about owners, or tow bar but no service history is a bit daft.
My step dad was having a go at the dealer because he just wanted to know should it have a service history or not - ive had a mazda before which was via an app so no booklet/stamps etc, the dealer kept giving various platitudes like oh were trying to chase it and ford dont keep central records (which i think is true) and then it descended into farce from there, I was a bit of an on looker at this point.
Really annoying at this model turned up within spitting distance of my house.
 
I'd never buy a car with no history. There's plenty of people who actually believe cars don't need servicing. Or at least not every year :/

Even if it's not being used much the oil still needs changing at least.
 
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Nasher said:
I'd never buy a car with no history. There's plenty of people who actually believe cars don't need servicing. Or at least not every year :/
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My sister thought that you only had to service a car when you were selling it :eek::rolleyes:

Luckily she's still at home and my parents aren't quite as daft.
 
My Mondeo ST220 didn't have any history but it had only 1 owner from new and was mint for a 10yr old car so I bought it. Was reliable for the 12 months I had it.
If it's a basic engine and cheapish I would do it again but with a more complexed car like the one your after OP I would run a mile as annoying as it is when they are so rare.
 
If you've got the registration number, enter it on MOT history checker too.

Really hate it when dealers hide the number plates, it's as if they have something to hide.
 
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