Missing History Enigma of an E Class W211

[Benz17]

Wait until next month and see if you forget the MOT !

 

[markjay]

It's a good idea but the only changes in location I know of are from the MOT history. It's possible that the car underwent some ownership changes between 2008 and 2011 but that would mean it had 5 changes of owners in a 3 year period... Seems unlikely, but I admit it's possible.

Don't rely too much on the MOT test station location... I live in London, and on occasion MOTed my previous cars in Sudbury, Suffolk, because I was regularly seening a customer in the area and it was more convenient to do it there.

 

[Larkone]

Could some have been SORN periods because you do not need to MOT a SORN'd car.

 

[E55BOF]

It might be worth doing a Cazana check on the car. I haven't done one for a couple of years, but they used to show the date of ownership changes, and on a couple of checks they also found details of when the car had been advertised for sale by a dealer. TotalCarCheck also will show dates of acquisition by previous owners, though I don't know how far back they go.

 

[Teflon]

The most likely explanation is that someone has just forgotten to get the car MOTd - or deliberately forgotten to see how long they can get away with it. Or someone has used it as a cloned car on different plates for some of the time - but that would seem an unlikely choice of car to do that.
I would think it unlikely that the car will have had regular servicing if the MOT has been "forgotten".
Hopefully you bought it cheap enough that it doesn't matter - the 211 e240 is a pretty tough mechanically so I would just drive it.
Normally the time to check the MOT and service history is before you buy the car.........
And most car dealers' explanations of missing history are 100% fabricated BS.

Hmm.. Well I don't think the MOT has been forgotten, at least not 5 times with 5 different owners so I'm going to assume that their is service history it's just finding it that's the problem. As for the price I paid for
the car it was a bargain when compared to what the E Class of that year are currently selling for. As for the comment that "Normally the time to check the MOT and service history is before you buy the car" At no time did I say I hadn't. It so happens that I was aware of the missing history when I bought it, hence the low price I paid for it. It's only now that I have the time to try and track down whatever history there may be. As for what car dealers may or may not say I fail to see the relevance as I bought it from a private individual whom I've known personally for a number of years and who was as open and transparent as is possible.

 

[Teflon]

It might be worth doing a Cazana check on the car. I haven't done one for a couple of years, but they used to show the date of ownership changes, and on a couple of checks they also found details of when the car had been advertised for sale by a dealer. TotalCarCheck also will show dates of acquisition by previous owners, though I don't know how far back they go.

Thanks for that I'll give it a whirl right now. Well it seems Cazana are no more and as for Total Car Check their sample report clearly shows an owner history section yet having paid for the gold report there is no such section
in fact they have no more information than I got from car analytics for £1.99 not a happy bunny so have asked for a refund.