Advice on buying an SLK with service history missing

[Ian J]

I'm a bit annoyed as I drove a 150 mile round trip to look at a 2000 W Reg SLK230 at an independent dealers. It was described as 44,000 miles with FSH and was priced at £11,000

I'm no mechanic but it looked OK to me. The paintwork was fine with no chips or dents and the only thing that I could fault (apart from it being dirty inside with dog hairs everywhere) was a broken switch to open the roof.

The problem arose when I asked to see the service records as what was described in Autotrader as FSH turned out to be one stamp in 2001 at 10,000 miles and another in 2002 at 20,000 miles with nothing since at all. It has had two owners so on the surface it looks like the second owner never bothered to get it serviced - unless I am overlooking something.

According to Parkers this model should be retailing at £12,500 at an independent dealer with 60,000 miles on the clock so on the surface this one seems to be underpriced by £1,500 plus.

Bearing in mind that I am no mechanic do you think it's worth the risk ?

 

[Rose Chap]

The car may well be perfectly fine but you've got to ask yourself if the dealer selling the car is prepared to deliberately mislead you about the service history, what else is he willing to have overlooked or neglected to mention?

I'd walk away from this car (and dealer) and find another one.

 

[Ian J]

You're probably right so regretfully I will leave that one alone. Shame as it's bright red which is the colour that my wife preferred. Still I'm sure another will pop up shortly.

 

[Alps]

better safe than sorry!

you will find the car you want with FSH, just a matter of waiting till it turns up for sale!

 

[BaldGuy]

Just had a flick through Top Marques for you and found this....

Mercedes Benz SLK 230K
1999 86k miles just fully serviced, new pirelli tyres, new leather, nakamichi cd, mot july 2007, FULL History in RED
10995 ovno
Norfolk 077684 20901

Sounds nice to me and the only red one in there!!!!.....

 

[Ian J]

What I should have added is that on Sunday I went to see another SLK - this time 1999 T Reg. 45,000 miles with FSH for £10,000

Nice car and looked genuine (with the rather nice red leather interior) but when I asked for confirmation of the FSH I was told that it had been owned for the last 2.5 years by the wife of someone who worked at a Mercedes dealership and that he had serviced the car himself.

When I queried the meaning of FSH with a friend he told me that it probably stood for "Full Sporadic History"

 

[w124coupe]

My mate calls that type of FSH "Full of Sh*t History" and agrees with the earlier post that lies tend to come in stacks - walk away!

 

[w124coupe]

If he serviced the car himself he should still have all the receipts showing the filters, oil etc etc used.

 

[glojo]

There will be the 'right' car out there at the right price. The hard part is being patient. You have done well to walk away. Be strong, be resolute, the right car is out there.

Regards,
John

 

[Ian J]

I've found another in Autotrader which is only 50 miles away from me. This one is also red and is 1999 on a T plate. Only 51,00 miles with FSH at £10,000

I shall telephone the dealer tomorrow and question him about the exact history before I waste another few hours

 

[Ian J]

you will find the car you want with FSH, just a matter of waiting till it turns up for sale!

And it only took me another day. This one has not only the book fully stamped but also a whole load of invoices with it dating back from the original invoice for the purchase of the car in 1999.

T Reg with 52,000 miles from three owners. Wife's preferred colour of red with black leather and the bodywork is unmarked. Only minus point was the scrambled egg on three of the four wheels but I'll have that done at £35 per wheel. Seems to be excellent value at £9,999 as I've seen similar cars at main dealerships for £12,500

 

[Dieselman]

Get the dealer to do the wheels as part of the sale.

 

[Ian J]

I tried but he wouldn't saying that the car was already underpriced. He was a little mean on the part exchange so I told him what I wanted, left him my phone number and walked away. He telephoned at 4:30 to say that he could now go that extra bit but I didn't think he would move any more so just agreed the deal.

All in all I think that I've done well and the only concern that I now have is what this bright red car will look like parked in my drive next to my blue CLK.

 

[Ian J]

I picked it up yesterday and leaving the garage I noticed that when I used the indicators although the lights on the dashboard lit up they neither flashed on and off nor ticked. Like an idiot I didn't think anything of it and drove it 50 miles home.

I got my wife to check and she confirmed that the indicators lit up but didn't flash and the hazard lights were exactly the same.

I telephoned the local MB dealer and he told me that they were due to shut in half an hour but if I took it in straight away they would have a quick look. Unfortunately the news wasn't so good as he told me that I would need a new control unit costing £400

Obviously the garage that I bought the car from will rectify this but it's the sheer aggravation involved as they aren't local and it probably isn't something that they can fix themselves anyway.

Full marks to MB in Tamworth as it's the second time that I've asked them to look at something and they've done it straight away.

 

[jaymanek]

Ahh, i just sold a beautiful SLK, T reg, 40K with FMBSH, was mint and i let it go for £9500!

 

[Flash]

I picked it up yesterday and leaving the garage I noticed that when I used the indicators although the lights on the dashboard lit up they neither flashed on and off nor ticked. Like an idiot I didn't think anything of it and drove it 50 miles home.Unfortunately the news wasn't so good as he told me that I would need a new control unit costing £400

With all due respect, did you not bother to check the functionality of the whole vehicle/electrics etc. and test drive it prior to the sale in addition to the usual checks...?

 

[Ian J]

I must admit that I didn't take much notice of whether the indicators were working properly and spent most of my "electrics time" making sure that the roof worked properly.

Ahh, i just sold a beautiful SLK, T reg, 40K with FMBSH, was mint and i let it go for £9500!

It was nice but unfortunately I spent too long thinking about it and by the time I telephoned you to say that i'd have it you'd sold it to someone else.

 

[219]

An AA or RAC inspection is pretty thorough and tends to pick up every little nit-picking fault . Can be well worth the cost if it picks up a potentially expensive to fix fault .

 

[Ian J]

Now I'm really embarrasssed

The dealer didn't seem too helpful and I found out that they were actually closing this Friday as they had sold the premises for redevelopment so I contacted the finance company who put pressure on them by threatening to stop their cheque.

The dealer suddenly became very helpful and sent a recovery truck with two people the 50 miles to my house to collect the car this morning. The mechanic wanted to have a look to see if he could fix the car first and he got in, switched the engine on and lo and behold the indicators worked.

He thought that it may have been a loose bulb as he said one of them wasn't as tight as it should be but they still worked before he tightened them up. Having had the car three days and driven it every day, the indicators haven't worked at all yet as soon as he tried it, they did. Most strange. The fact that the local MB dealer looked at it and said that it was the control box that had gone and I needed a replacement at £400 was equally strange

 

[grober]

It doesnt say much for the dealers diagnostic skills if he didnt pick up on the loose bulb. It may however be an control unit intermittant fault which may require further work. Sometimes electronic faults only show up when circuits have heated up. Personnal I would write to the dealer (post by recorded delivery) you purchased the car from, recording the fault details on paper including the MB dealers statement about the control unit needing replaced ( the fault codes they recorded would be a nice touch if you can get them). That way if the fault recurs you have a dated written record of when the fault occurred. Thats assuming the dealer offered any warranty?? hopefully the problem was in fact a loose bulb and wont recur to stop the enjoyment of your new car.