Looking to buy first Audi A3

[smr84]

I'm looking at buying my first Audi. Does this service record look ok? You might have to click on each photo to see it all. Thanks for any advice

[Magnet]

Hello Joel,

Welcome and thanks for joining. 
Am I reading this incorrectly? To me, it seems it hasn’t had any (recorded) servicing until it was 2.25 years old, and had covered  26k miles, and this was only an Inspection service. It then gets its first oil service when it’s near to 3 years old, and covered just under 30k. 
All of the above was under the first owner - on PCP for a bet! It’s the ‘I’m not keeping it, so I don’t care’ syndrome. 
It then moves to its second owner who covers 20k miles on a flexible service plan ( oil changes around every 18k type service) and gets one oil service in that time. 
Is this car being advertised with Full Service History? 
If so, then that’s really taking artistic licence! If it isn’t, then to be fair, the seller isn’t making any unreasonable claims about its servicing history. 
If I was in your situation, then I would be walking away from this.

Apologies, if this isn’t what you expected to hear, or if I’ve got it wrong. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

[smr84]

28 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Hello Joel,

Welcome and thanks for joining. 
Am I reading this incorrectly? To me, it seems it hasn’t had any (recorded) servicing until it was 2.25 years old, and had covered  26k miles, and this was only an Inspection service. It then gets its first oil service when it’s near to 3 years old, and covered just under 30k. 
All of the above was under the first owner - on PCP for a bet! It’s the ‘I’m not keeping it, so I don’t care’ syndrome. 
It then moves to its second owner who covers 20k miles on a flexible service plan ( oil changes around every 18k type service) and gets one oil service in that time. 
Is this car being advertised with Full Service History? 
If so, then that’s really taking artistic licence! If it isn’t, then to be fair, the seller isn’t making any unreasonable claims about its servicing history. 
If I was in your situation, then I would be walking away from this.

Apologies, if this isn’t what you expected to hear, or if I’ve got it wrong. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

Hi Gareth,

Many thanks for your reply. The car is being sold as FSH. 

When I asked for the service record the seller emailed the latter part of the service first, which I realised only started in 2021 so I had to ask if there was any earlier service record hence the second smaller and first part... and I did think that seemed a bit off.

I also think the same as yourself - surely a service should be done every year or 10k on most cars and like you say it looks like the first service was done at 26k!

I was really interested in the car so it wasn't what I wanted to hear but I'd much rather not buy a car which hasn't been maintained properly. 

Thanks very much for your advice.

Edited March 23 by smr84

[Magnet]

You are very welcome Joel,

The car may ( in caps) have been serviced prior to 26K by some garage which didn’t have access to the VAG recording system, but this is only a guess, unless substantiated by some receipts, which would have been necessary to satisfy the warranty.

Perhaps this is being cynical, but how uncommon is it for PCP owners to ‘get away with’ the least amount of servicing they can, since they are not keeping it-? 

VAG service options - as I understand it:-

Fixed - for vehicles covering around less than 10k a year. These vehicles should have an oil service once a year. 
Flexible - Vehicles covering >10k a year. These will be serviced depending on the vehicle’s usage as calculated by the ‘computer’ and generally works out at around 18k intervals, or no longer than 18 month intervals - whichever comes first. 
Hope some of this helps, and good luck with finding what you are looking for. 
A personal view:- Full service history is desirable when carried out as it should be, but in my book is not king, and can simply prove the car has spent half a day at a dealer every now and then, and might have been thrashed and generally uncared for for the other 364.5 days. 
Just let us know if we can be of further help.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

[smr84]

Thanks Gareth,

I've said to the seller I'd like to see all the service history and any documentation regarding servicing etc. and that's all I have been given so either the seller doesn't have access to any other service records than what's shown or that is the actual service history in full. 

I'm the same really - I can't spend over £10k on a car which has missed routine maintenance schedules, I just think it would be irresponsible. 

I'm looking for an automatic 2018+ Audi A3 and have read that the 1.5 TFSI engines should be avoided because they're jumpy etc. but on Autotrader I can't seem to see any 1.4 TFSI engines. Either the 1.0L or 1.4 sound good. Have you got any advice about this?

[Magnet]

Any owners of the above models like to help Joel out by posting  their ownership experiences? 

[smr84]

I suppose I could take out an extended warranty with Audi, with a £250 excess it would be £492 a year, I think that would probably be a good idea anyway for peace of mind.

[smr84]

Just looking at the service record again, surely the car must have been elsewhere other than Audi dealership for servicing or MOT as the first MOT is 2021... 3 years after the car's inception??

So if it has been MOT'd elsewhere, as the ones in 2019 and 2020 aren't showing, it's most likely been serviced elsewhere too...?

[smr84]

This is what I can find on the MOT 

 

Date	Result	Details
28 Oct 2023	Pass	Mileage: 51,004 miles Advisory Notices Offside front tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
27 Oct 2022	Pass	Mileage: 43,078 miles
07 Sep 2021	Pass	Mileage: 29,965 miles

[Magnet]

Hello Joel,

Can I say it as I see it? You are trying to convince yourself that all maybe (in caps) alright, without evidence that it is. In reality, everything you now say are assumptions, and we all know what that word can be broken down to. 
The car hasn’t really had the best of servicing with the last owner, but only to the bare minimum requirement. 
Extended warranty?? Yes of course you can pay c£1,500 over 3 years for a warranty - with you paying the first £250 of each and every claim - and locked in to paying Audi servicing charges?? A warranty maybe a handy backstop to have, but every claim comes with hassle and the inevitable ‘it’s wear and take and not covered’. 
Again, saying it as I see it, I wouldn’t  be surprised if you convince yourself to buy it. 
Please bare in mind that you will hopefully get other opinions on here.
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Gareth. 

[smr84]

Hi Gareth

I was thinking it might be a good idea to get a warranty regardless of which A3 I might buy, as they're likely to be as recent as 2018 and with circa 50k on the clock, and I don't mind spending £30 per month for peace of mind if something should go wrong.

But the point you raise is an interesting one and something I've read about - "wear and tear" - I was reading the Audi list of exclusions from the warranty where this was mentioned.

It's interesting because to me, technically surely anything can be considered wear and tear on a car. I mean literally anything ever invented by man kind is subject to wear and tear so surely Audi could just say to anyone regardless of what the component is "sorry, that's a wear and tear item" .... s tronic gear box... every component in it is subject to wear and tear surely!

An interesting post I read was about how someone insisted on his Dad buying the extended warranty on a used car purchase and was grateful he took it up as not long after he had a repair item worth £1,700 covered by the warranty.... 

As for the car, I'm being cerebral about it - not trying to convince myself to buy it, just trying to ascertain the facts to paint the fullest picture I can, but it does like there are oil changes missing. I even said this to the seller - perhaps the previous owner has records of oil changes which aren't listed on that service record I was given, but heard no reply anyway.

Presumably what I have been given is just the service record which any authorised Audi service department has for the car, so there if work has been done outside of the VAG group it would not be documented? Regardless I'd still need to see that before considering buying. There are 2016-2018 A3's with FSH so it's no problem anyway.

[Stevey Y]

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

Hello Joel,

Can I say it as I see it? You are trying to convince yourself that all maybe (in caps) alright, without evidence that it is. In reality, everything you now say are assumptions, and we all know what that word can be broken down to. 
The car hasn’t really had the best of servicing with the last owner, but only to the bare minimum requirement. 
Extended warranty?? Yes of course you can pay c£1,500 over 3 years for a warranty - with you paying the first £250 of each and every claim - and locked in to paying Audi servicing charges?? A warranty maybe a handy backstop to have, but every claim comes with hassle and the inevitable ‘it’s wear and take and not covered’. 
Again, saying it as I see it, I wouldn’t  be surprised if you convince yourself to buy it. 
Please bare in mind that you will hopefully get other opinions on here.
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Gareth. 

H

 

1 hour ago, smr84 said:

This is what I can find on the MOT 

 

Date	Result	Details
28 Oct 2023	Pass	Mileage: 51,004 miles Advisory Notices Offside front tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
27 Oct 2022	Pass	Mileage: 43,078 miles
07 Sep 2021	Pass	Mileage: 29,965 miles

Hi Gareth is spot on there is another guy on here at this very moment, Will Stevens having holy hell with his extended warranty, every time he goes in THE COMPUTER SAYS NOT covered, Audi could not guarantee a funeral plan once they have your money possession is nine tenths of the law, looking at the dynamics of it full service history should mean a clear and transparent history from day one, they certainly new what they were doing when they abandoned service history books.

Steve.

[smr84]

Someone has just mentioned this to me on fb ... I suppose it's easy to forget how covid literally brought everything to a halt and shut companies down for many months... which I guess you'd have to factor in when looking at this service schedule - if you consider it might have been on the Audi Long Life Service Schedule also...

"VAG cars can be set up for either standard or long life servicing, if set for long life then it’s every 2 years or 20k which on this one is probably what’s happened in my opinion and then late due to covid"

The Audi LongLife Service

"These engines use built-in sensors that continually monitor the oil quality, making it possible to enjoy maintenance and service free intervals for even longer. Flexible service intervals of up to a maximum of 19,000 miles* or 24 months (whichever occurs first)."

Edited March 23 by smr84

[Magnet]

Thanks Joel,

Again saying it as it is, your Facebook contact is simply repeating what I have already told you. I think if you want to use Covid as a reason/excuse then that obviously becomes your choice - as does putting your faith in an Audi warranty being the answer to the maiden’s prayer. 
No one on here sets out to put a damper on anyone’s interest in buying anything, but all I can say is that it’s easy to fall in love with a car - until you own it! 
We can only give advice in relation to the question asked, and in this case, the evidence points to an incorrect claim of FSH. This is unquestionable - unless other evidence (non existent at this stage) is presented. 
Whether you buy the car, and a £1500 warranty over 3 years, now really becomes your choice Joel, but whatever decision you make, will be a decision made in relation to the answers to the question you asked.

Genuine good luck with whatever you decide to do. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.