Rx400H Service Book

[FredD]

I went to see a 2007 RX400h with only 9000 miles at a Lexus dealer yesterday however I got very cold feet when I saw that one service in the service book was missing. The car had basically the first year service (at around 4000 miles - this was a minor service) and the third year service (85000 miles - this was another minor service) but the car never had a second year service and never had a major service. The Lexus dealer said that this should not be a problem given the low mileage of the car. I am not familiar with Lexus but I know that for BMW and Porsche brands an annual service missing could seriously affect the resale value of the car. I take the view that there are a lot of good RX400h in the market with complete service books and therefore let this one go. Am I right or not ? Thank you.

[PCthug]

I went to see a 2007 RX400h with only 9000 miles at a Lexus dealer yesterday however I got very cold feet when I saw that one service in the service book was missing. The car had basically the first year service (at around 4000 miles - this was a minor service) and the third year service (85000 miles - this was another minor service) but the car never had a second year service and never had a major service. The Lexus dealer said that this should not be a problem given the low mileage of the car. I am not familiar with Lexus but I know that for BMW and Porsche brands an annual service missing could seriously affect the resale value of the car. I take the view that there are a lot of good RX400h in the market with complete service books and therefore let this one go. Am I right or not ? Thank you.

(spot the mistake)

It wouldnt have bothered me.

Oil is in the ground for millions of years, so another year in your car wont make much of a difference.

Actually, joking aside, why not just ask them to do the major service as a bargaining tool before you buy it?

Especially if it was a good price.

[FredD]

I went to see a 2007 RX400h with only 9000 miles at a Lexus dealer yesterday however I got very cold feet when I saw that one service in the service book was missing. The car had basically the first year service (at around 4000 miles - this was a minor service) and the third year service (85000 miles - this was another minor service) but the car never had a second year service and never had a major service. The Lexus dealer said that this should not be a problem given the low mileage of the car. I am not familiar with Lexus but I know that for BMW and Porsche brands an annual service missing could seriously affect the resale value of the car. I take the view that there are a lot of good RX400h in the market with complete service books and therefore let this one go. Am I right or not ? Thank you.

(spot the mistake)

It wouldnt have bothered me.

Oil is in the ground for millions of years, so another year in your car wont make much of a difference.

Actually, joking aside, why not just ask them to do the major service as a bargaining tool before you buy it?

Especially if it was a good price.

[FredD]

Sorry you are right the second service was at 8500 miles (and not 85000 miles). My point is that if someone is happy to skip a service to save a few hundreds pounds it does not give me confidence that the car has been well looked after (even if the car has been driven only a few thousands miles). I admit my comment may be a bit unfair though.

[PCthug]

Sorry you are right the second service was at 8500 miles (and not 85000 miles). My point is that if someone is happy to skip a service to save a few hundreds pounds it does not give me confidence that the car has been well looked after (even if the car has been driven only a few thousands miles). I admit my comment may be a bit unfair though.

Do you know the reason the service was missed?

To buy a 40 grand car, and skip a service for a couple of hundred quid, and possibly reduce the value of the car by even more doesnt make sense to me either.

They may be another reason it was skipped and why it has low mileage, like death of owner, drink drive charge, loss of licence due to ill health (epilepsy for eg.), owner out of the country for a long period, ownership of company car so not used, etc.

I once took my car to be serviced and forgot to take the service book with me, so they couldnt stamp it. Ok, i took it a week or so later and it was stamped. A similar thing may have happened, and they just didnt get round to it.

See if you can get the owners details off the log book and send them a letter if the garage can't answer your questions.

Does it have the tax discs still in the holder/folder? This could show a possible break in usage.