Hello from Bradford

[Jim_1991]

Good Morning All,

I'm Jimmy, from sunny Bradford 😆

I have just recently got my self my very first Audi - Audi A4 Avant Black Edition S Line Quattro (B8.5)

Purchased from York (Marshall Honda).

Due to pick it up at the end of the month and I'm like a kid at Christmas!

Coming from a background of hot hatches, this is my first "sensible family car" as I now have a young family.

So thought id pop in and say Hi! - being a member of forums in the past I know they are a good place to be.

[Steve Q]

Welcome to the forum Jimmy, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 

Lovely looking A4 not surprised you can't wait to get it! 

 

[coupe4]

welcome jimmy,very nice car,best of luck with it.

[bantamdave21]

Welcome to the club !

Lovely looking car….i still wish I’d got an estate 😞 

[Jim_1991]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:26 PM, Steve Q said:

Welcome to the forum Jimmy, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 

Lovely looking A4 not surprised you can't wait to get it! 

 

Thank you Steve, It's good to be here!

I'm picking the Audi up on Friday morning (27th May) as part of the deal I had the garage put the Audi in for the timing belt doing as there was no history of it ever been done and the car is just about to click onto 70k. I believe from some research I did they needed doing every 6 years or 80k miles, which ever came first. I scoured the history the garage showed me on my test drive, and saw nothing about it ever been done. So that's been done and they are also sticking me a full tank of fuel in too. 

Is there anything else I need to be watching out/checking for on these cars? I can ask questions leading up to Friday.

Cheers!

[Jim_1991]

13 hours ago, bantamdave21 said:

Welcome to the club !

Lovely looking car….i still wish I’d got an estate 😞 

Thanks Dave!

The estate just looks so much more aesthetically pleasing IMO. Not forgetting the practicality for me with 2 young kids and loads of room to swing a cat around in the boot 😂

[Jim_1991]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:45 PM, coupe4 said:

welcome jimmy,very nice car,best of luck with it.

Cheers pal!

Just excited to get the car now and do some proper driving in it, lets face it, half an hour test drive isn't even scratching the surface! 🙂

[Steve Q]

1 hour ago, Jim_1991 said:

Cheers pal!

Just excited to get the car now and do some proper driving in it, lets face it, half an hour test drive isn't even scratching the surface! 🙂

Exactly! Get some road trips planned 😉

[Steve Q]

1 hour ago, Jim_1991 said:

Thank you Steve, It's good to be here!

I'm picking the Audi up on Friday morning (27th May) as part of the deal I had the garage put the Audi in for the timing belt doing as there was no history of it ever been done and the car is just about to click onto 70k. I believe from some research I did they needed doing every 6 years or 80k miles, which ever came first. I scoured the history the garage showed me on my test drive, and saw nothing about it ever been done. So that's been done and they are also sticking me a full tank of fuel in too. 

Is there anything else I need to be watching out/checking for on these cars? I can ask questions leading up to Friday.

Cheers!

Good on ya! If it's quattro make sure tyre tread is even on tyres on the same axle as uneven tyre tread can damage the quattro system. 

If auto check to see when the gearbox was last serviced. 

The problem with the new gdpr rules is that garages can no longer hand over all old invoices etc. It's a pain in the....

[Jim_1991]

1 hour ago, Steve Q said:

Good on ya! If it's quattro make sure tyre tread is even on tyres on the same axle as uneven tyre tread can damage the quattro system. 

If auto check to see when the gearbox was last serviced. 

The problem with the new gdpr rules is that garages can no longer hand over all old invoices etc. It's a pain in the....

Shall check the tyre tread on Friday when I collect the car, its not just round the corner from my house, so I cant just make a flying visit to look at the car. But I will certainly ask about the gearbox service history.

The whole GDPR thing is absolute tosh, when buying a 2nd hand car you need the history! I did wonder why he was being abit sheepish when I asked him to see the documents. 

Cheers for the heads up Steve.

[Jim_1991]

Just now, Jim_1991 said:

Shall check the tyre tread on Friday when I collect the car, its not just round the corner from my house, so I cant just make a flying visit to look at the car. But I will certainly ask about the gearbox service history.

The whole GDPR thing is absolute tosh, when buying a 2nd hand car you need the history! I did wonder why he was being abit sheepish when I asked him to see the documents. 

Cheers for the heads up Steve.

I also forgot to add, I got 2 years warranty from them too - I wonder what they would try wriggle out of paying for if it came to it. All these warranties are the same.😂

[Steve Q]

6 minutes ago, Jim_1991 said:

Shall check the tyre tread on Friday when I collect the car, its not just round the corner from my house, so I cant just make a flying visit to look at the car. But I will certainly ask about the gearbox service history.

The whole GDPR thing is absolute tosh, when buying a 2nd hand car you need the history! I did wonder why he was being abit sheepish when I asked him to see the documents. 

Cheers for the heads up Steve.

No probs at all 🙂 

I never understood why there isn't a national database that all garages have to sign up to. Where all vehicle invoices are uploaded excluding personal details. 

Read the small print I'd the warranty as most of them aren't worth the paper they're written on. For peace of mind you could take out an Audi extended warranty. As I find the main dealer extended warranties are best by far.  

 

[Jim_1991]

4 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

No probs at all 🙂 

I never understood why there isn't a national database that all garages have to sign up to. Where all vehicle invoices are uploaded excluding personal details. 

Read the small print I'd the warranty as most of them aren't worth the paper they're written on. For peace of mind you could take out an Audi extended warranty. As I find the main dealer extended warranties are best by far.  

 

Yeah, there should be some way of accessing the information of any invoices for works done, MOT history, Service History, just a paper trail of everything other than fuel that's gone into the car IMO. I'm going to ask the salesman on Friday, however, when I had a read through the documents when I was searching for the timing belt history, there was a good chunk of paperwork, which is good, I guess! 

lets face it, you ultimately buy a 2nd hand car based on 3 things - Cost, How it drives and History!

I have found in the past, like you said, warranty isn't worth the ink its written in, hence why I didn't pay extra, but I do have that as a first port of call if something goes pete tong.

 

[Magnet]

Hello Jimmy,

Sounds nice.

Can we take it you have done an on-line MOT history on the car? 
Also an on-line ‘DVLA Vehicle check’ which will tell you the date the last V5 was issued. If fairly recent, then some degree of alarm ringing will dictate further investigation, since the last owner may have bought it recently. Not a good sign. Not wishing to put a dampener on anything, but prior homework is king! 
You should also be able (essential) to do a servicing search via. any Audi dealer, by giving them the registration number. They will usually e-Mail you a copy of that service record. 
In addition to Steve’s very sound advice about equal tread depths, I would also check on ‘same brand’ tyres. A matching set of tyre brands on a car is a good sign. 
Good luck with it.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Jim_1991]

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

Hello Jimmy,

Sounds nice.

Can we take it you have done an on-line MOT history on the car? 
Also an on-line ‘DVLA Vehicle check’ which will tell you the date the last V5 was issued. If fairly recent, then some degree of alarm ringing will dictate further investigation, since the last owner may have bought it recently. Not a good sign. Not wishing to put a dampener on anything, but prior homework is king! 
You should also be able (essential) to do a servicing search via. any Audi dealer, by giving them the registration number. They will usually e-Mail you a copy of that service record. 
In addition to Steve’s very sound advice about equal tread depths, I would also check on ‘same brand’ tyres. A matching set of tyre brands on a car is a good sign. 
Good luck with it.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Afternoon Gareth,

Yes, you take it correct, I have done all the MOT checks and the DVLA checks. MOT History only ever shows failures/advisories on tyre condition and the DVLA check shows last V5 issue date was September 2018 which to me would indicate previous owner id of thought considering the car is a 2015 Audi. 

I will certainly get onto Audi for the servicing search - I didn't know this was something we could do. I'll get on with that, cheers!

Ill 100% be checking for tyre tread, depths and same branded tyers on the day.

Appreciate all this good advice gents, thank you!

[Steve Q]

2 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Jimmy,

Sounds nice.

Can we take it you have done an on-line MOT history on the car? 
Also an on-line ‘DVLA Vehicle check’ which will tell you the date the last V5 was issued. If fairly recent, then some degree of alarm ringing will dictate further investigation, since the last owner may have bought it recently. Not a good sign. Not wishing to put a dampener on anything, but prior homework is king! 
You should also be able (essential) to do a servicing search via. any Audi dealer, by giving them the registration number. They will usually e-Mail you a copy of that service record. 
In addition to Steve’s very sound advice about equal tread depths, I would also check on ‘same brand’ tyres. A matching set of tyre brands on a car is a good sign. 
Good luck with it.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Gareth raises a good point, I forgot you could speak to Audi who can provide you with the history for any work they've done. Don't know how I forgot that when I used to work in Volkswagen service lol. 

[Jim_1991]

36 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

Gareth raises a good point, I forgot you could speak to Audi who can provide you with the history for any work they've done. Don't know how I forgot that when I used to work in Volkswagen service lol. 

In between replying previously to now, I've been in touch with Audi and they sent me a PDF of the service history, to which she replied "please find attached everything I have available". It is literally one page listing the following...

27/07/2019 Inspection Service - 57,167 miles
27/07/2019 MOT (passed) - 57,167 miles
6/08/2018 Used Car MPC - 52,284 miles
10/08/2017 Oil Change Service - 37,982 miles
5/12/2016 Emissions Technical Measure - 24,751 miles.

That's literally it 🤔

[Steve Q]

39 minutes ago, Jim_1991 said:

In between replying previously to now, I've been in touch with Audi and they sent me a PDF of the service history, to which she replied "please find attached everything I have available". It is literally one page listing the following...

27/07/2019 Inspection Service - 57,167 miles
27/07/2019 MOT (passed) - 57,167 miles
6/08/2018 Used Car MPC - 52,284 miles
10/08/2017 Oil Change Service - 37,982 miles
5/12/2016 Emissions Technical Measure - 24,751 miles.

That's literally it 🤔

The emissions is the ea189 recall. Does seem a little limited. Did they say if it's on a long life service plan (ie every 2 years for a service). 

I'd definitely be looking at getting the gearbox oil changed. And quattro system oil changed (I'm applicable). Is it coming with a stamped service book? 

[Jim_1991]

24 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

The emissions is the ea189 recall. Does seem a little limited. Did they say if it's on a long life service plan (ie every 2 years for a service). 

I'd definitely be looking at getting the gearbox oil changed. And quattro system oil changed (I'm applicable). Is it coming with a stamped service book? 

From the PDF she sent it shows a Service Plan, start date 24/8/2018 , end date 23/8/22 so its coming to the end of a 4 year service plan by what this says. Its given me a policy number so I can always quote that with Audi cant I if i want/need to get it serviced before stated end date. Would you advice i book it in for a service before this policy runs out? Then anything that may get picked up should hopefully fall under the warranty, maybe? 🤔

Ill look into both oil services/changes and yeah the glovebox contained both books (service book and manual) which ill be having a good look at again on Friday.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Jim_1991

[Magnet]

Hello Jimmy,

From what information you have been given - and apologies for how I (in caps) see it - the car has been subjected to a glorious lack of (recorded) servicing. 
It was first registered in ? month 2015, yet did not have a service until Aug. 2017 by which time it had covered c38k miles - so at best it had ‘lost’ one service. 
Then the car ran for a further 2 years, and an extra 20k miles and then had a basic Inspection Service. That brings it up to 2019, and it seems it’s not been serviced during the last c3 years. 
If a service plan was taken out in Aug 2018, then it seems the previous owner ‘ couldn’t even be bothered’ to return it to be serviced! 
If I’m right, then that effectively equates to 3/4 of nothing of a service history. 
Servicing it now under the service plan? Yes OK, but has the horse already bolted? And indeed, is the plan transferable? 

Of course, it could be claimed that the servicing has been done ‘away from the main dealer’, but why would anyone do that if they were paying for a maintenance schedule?? 

This would indeed put a dampener on it if I was interested, and would come under the heading of ‘nice looker, shame about the holes in the knickers’! 
Well at least you are now armed with most of what you need to know to make a considered opinion. 
Pardon my ignorance with this, but have you check if this is a belted or chain engine? If belt then every 5 years is a good safeguard, so should have been done in 2020. 
Apologies again for my slant on it. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.