ISF with missing service history

[ISF855]

Hi all

Here's a hypothetical:

Lexus ISF from a Lexus dealership. Good age and mileage. 

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

Also, no additional receipts or paperwork for work carried out except for work done at Lexus which they can pull up on their system.

Would this be of strong concern? 

Cheers,

[Flytvr]

If you are questioning this, then when you come to sell it, buyers will too.

[Jgtcracer]

2 hours ago, ISF855 said:

Hi all

Here's a hypothetical:

Lexus ISF from a Lexus dealership. Good age and mileage. 

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

Also, no additional receipts or paperwork for work carried out except for work done at Lexus which they can pull up on their system.

Would this be of strong concern? 

Cheers,

Does this mean it will not come with the Relax warranty?  History being there isn’t in itself a problem if the car is ok and the price is right…. They are generally bullet proof and if it’s in a main dealer they must have a level of confidence in the cars history.

Possible opportunity to haggle on price.

[NemesisUK]

A gap in service history is in itself not an issue, Relax warranty will be in force after the dealer services the car but any issues found in that service will not be covered, they need to be corrected before Relax kicks in for the next 12 months.

Of course the car must be under 10yrs old and less than 100k miles to qualify

[ISF855]

33 minutes ago, Jgtcracer said:

Does this mean it will not come with the Relax warranty?  History being there isn’t in itself a problem if the car is ok and the price is right…. They are generally bullet proof and if it’s in a main dealer they must have a level of confidence in the cars history.

Possible opportunity to haggle on price.

The car is 13 years old so doesn't qualify for that, but does have a 1 year Lexus used approved warranty...

[ISF855]

20 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

A gap in service history is in itself not an issue, Relax warranty will be in force after the dealer services the car but any issues found in that service will not be covered, they need to be corrected before Relax kicks in for the next 12 months.

Of course the car must be under 10yrs old and less than 100k miles to qualify

It's a 13 year old car, so doesn't come with the relax, but does come with a 1 year used approved warranty...

[ISF855]

2 hours ago, Flytvr said:

If you are questioning this, then when you come to sell it, buyers will too.

This was my thinking too

[ISF855]

I suppose also it would be useful to know from others with experience here of these cars, is it common for them to only come with partial service history at this age?

[Bluemarlin]

3 hours ago, ISF855 said:

Hi all

Here's a hypothetical:

Lexus ISF from a Lexus dealership. Good age and mileage. 

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

Also, no additional receipts or paperwork for work carried out except for work done at Lexus which they can pull up on their system.

Would this be of strong concern? 

Cheers,

Surely it would come up on their system if it happened at Lexus.

That said, a lot would depend on when the gap was. If it was the last 4 years, then yes, it would be a concern. However, if it was say from 2012 to 2016, then probably less of an issue if the car is running well. When it comes to reselling, I doubt it will matter much if it's an older car, with the gap being early in it's history and a full history therefafter.

Personally I'd look to see if any maintenance items beyond oil changes, such as spark plugs etc have been carried out to schedule, and if not get them done. I'd also look at the mileage records for those for those 4 years, and would probably be concerned it it had done 50 or 60k without any evidence of an oil change.

Lexus relax would still apply if the car is within age/mileage limits, and they serviced it in the last year, but if not you can also ask them about the 10yr plus extended warranty, if you want additional peace of mind.

What are the Lexus dealer saying about the gap? Are they saying it was actually serviced during that period,  but they just don't have the records, or are they saying that they have no idea if it was serviced or not during that time? Is there any way that either you or they could simply ask the previous owner why there's an apparent gap?

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, ISF855 said:

Hi all

Here's a hypothetical:

Lexus ISF from a Lexus dealership. Good age and mileage. 

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

Also, no additional receipts or paperwork for work carried out except for work done at Lexus which they can pull up on their system.

Would this be of strong concern? 

Cheers,

Not a massive concern.

Old car - bound to have some missing history and the main thing would be condition / mileage. 

Check mileages between MOTs, if its done less than 20k in those 4 years I wouldn't be hugely concerned providing the price is right.

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, ISF855 said:

I suppose also it would be useful to know from others with experience here of these cars, is it common for them to only come with partial service history at this age?

You would expect full service history, and normally you would typically see full Lexus service history.

The car itself is probably fine but I wouldn't be purchasing it with 4 years unknown history.

[ISF855]

33 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

You would expect full service history, and normally you would typically see full Lexus service history.

The car itself is probably fine but I wouldn't be purchasing it with 4 years unknown history.

Thanks for this, appreciated

[ISF855]

2 hours ago, rayaans said:

Not a massive concern.

Old car - bound to have some missing history and the main thing would be condition / mileage. 

Check mileages between MOTs, if its done less than 20k in those 4 years I wouldn't be hugely concerned providing the price is right.

Interesting. It's a low mileage car for age. So only about 9k miles in that time...

[ISF855]

3 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

Surely it would come up on their system if it happened at Lexus.

That said, a lot would depend on when the gap was. If it was the last 4 years, then yes, it would be a concern. However, if it was say from 2012 to 2016, then probably less of an issue if the car is running well. When it comes to reselling, I doubt it will matter much if it's an older car, with the gap being early in it's history and a full history therefafter.

Personally I'd look to see if any maintenance items beyond oil changes, such as spark plugs etc have been carried out to schedule, and if not get them done. I'd also look at the mileage records for those for those 4 years, and would probably be concerned it it had done 50 or 60k without any evidence of an oil change.

Lexus relax would still apply if the car is within age/mileage limits, and they serviced it in the last year, but if not you can also ask them about the 10yr plus extended warranty, if you want additional peace of mind.

What are the Lexus dealer saying about the gap? Are they saying it was actually serviced during that period,  but they just don't have the records, or are they saying that they have no idea if it was serviced or not during that time? Is there any way that either you or they could simply ask the previous owner why there's an apparent gap?

13 year old car. It was from about 2015-2019. All serviced before and since. Dealer didn't have much to say about the gap other than "it's an old car". And in the four year it looks to have only done approx 9k miles..

[rayaans]

54 minutes ago, ISF855 said:

Interesting. It's a low mileage car for age. So only about 9k miles in that time...

The other option is you could get something like Carly dongle and with the dealers permission stick it in the USB port and run the "used car check" built in. It will have the confirmed service history dates and mileage in KM. There is a chance the paperwork has been lost.

With most car manufacturers now, their approved used scheme just means that it has been checked and warranted - they don't have to have a full service history or a manufacturer service history at all as long as the supplying dealer has inspected and serviced it.

[ISF855]

14 hours ago, rayaans said:

The other option is you could get something like Carly dongle and with the dealers permission stick it in the USB port and run the "used car check" built in. It will have the confirmed service history dates and mileage in KM. There is a chance the paperwork has been lost.

With most car manufacturers now, their approved used scheme just means that it has been checked and warranted - they don't have to have a full service history or a manufacturer service history at all as long as the supplying dealer has inspected and serviced it.

Thanks I'll look into this - didn't know this sort of thing could check service history - much appreciated

[ubersonic]

On 10/9/2023 at 11:32 AM, ISF855 said:

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

What's most likely happened is that the entire service history has been lost, and Lexus were only able to duplicate the paperwork and stamp a new book for the work done on the car by Lexus dealers.

Obviously that doesn't help with the issue, but it does explain it.

[oldhan]

You could also try Car Vertical to find out the cars history. I think its around £20 but it might help to fill in those four missing years. 

[d3ron]

My car was missing service history when I purchased it in 2018. However the previous owner spent £4k at Lexus on having everything being put right including a new radiator before I bought it, so I was happy to take the risk.

Once I had it serviced and Lexus Birmingham had seen it, I was able to purchase 2 years warranty, which I thought was pretty great at the time. Never had to use it mind. I've built up 5 years of Lexus Service history since.

[Spock66]

On 10/9/2023 at 6:36 PM, ISF855 said:

13 year old car. It was from about 2015-2019. All serviced before and since. Dealer didn't have much to say about the gap other than "it's an old car". And in the four year it looks to have only done approx 9k miles..

Personally I don't think that's a major worry, presumably you have checked the MOT history?