Lets look at oil and buying a used vehicle. I've looked at a couple of CPO (certified pre-owned with the 3 year 100K warranty) Lexus LX470's and when you buy them they are suppose to be the best of the best and inspected something like 168 points. Well on both I asked to see the maintance records since with Lexus if you have the oil changed on your vehicle in Missouri and then in Texas it all goes into the national data bank. Well both vehicles with from 40-50K miles had never been maintained at any Lexus dealership so "NO" service records. You never know how someone really cared for a vehicle without the records. They could of done 15K mile OCI using a cheap dino oil. Now this will shorten the life of any engine. Why don't dealers and owners think it is important to provide a record of good service???
What mileage would you consider on a vehicle with no service records?
- Thread starter Kanab
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Not a clue as to why. A few years ago, when I traded in a car on a Camry, I handed the dealership all the maintenance records I had, except those with credit card numbers on them. I also included my spreadsheet with all work done to the vehicle. They gave me a blank stare so I assume they threw it all away as soon as I was gone.Pitbull said:
ToolmanJohn
New member
True on service records when trading
They really don't care, especially when it's not going to be sold by them on their lot. They will blow it out wholesale. It ends up on some used car lot somewhere. There are never any records for those cars.
Same thing happened when I traded in my 1998 for the 03 4runner. I put all the service records in the glove box. Guess what?? 2 days later I had to go back to get my Transfer Station Sticker off my sedan window (forgot about it) so I could get a new replacement for the truck. They let me back into the car no problem and all the paperwork was gone. I asked about it and he said " all paperwork except original owners manuals gets thrown away".
I asked about the service records. He said "If it's not under the original warranty it does not matter, the used car dealership has to take responsibility for a short warranty period when selling the car regardless of the service records, most people don't care when they're buying from a dealer".
They really don't care, especially when it's not going to be sold by them on their lot. They will blow it out wholesale. It ends up on some used car lot somewhere. There are never any records for those cars.
Same thing happened when I traded in my 1998 for the 03 4runner. I put all the service records in the glove box. Guess what?? 2 days later I had to go back to get my Transfer Station Sticker off my sedan window (forgot about it) so I could get a new replacement for the truck. They let me back into the car no problem and all the paperwork was gone. I asked about it and he said " all paperwork except original owners manuals gets thrown away".
I asked about the service records. He said "If it's not under the original warranty it does not matter, the used car dealership has to take responsibility for a short warranty period when selling the car regardless of the service records, most people don't care when they're buying from a dealer".
405HP_Z06
New member
Pitbull said:
Excellent discussion point! I know there are issues with maintenance records stored by dealers. I had '95 Lexus ES300 that I purchased used. It was a lease return and had all the maintenance receipts in the owner's manual from a Lexus dealership in Ohio. I purchased the car in Texas and took it to a local Lexus dealer and they could find no maintenance history on the vehicle.
I had a similar issue on my '03 Z06 that I purchased new. I had warranty work performed by one dealer and then took it to another dealer. The second dealer could find no maintenance history on the vehicle. Again,
To your point, I don't really know what I would consider without maintenance records. For me it would depend on the vehicle and it's overall condition. Without maintenance records, there is only so much you can look at to try to determine the condition of the engine.
For me, this brings up another question. Do you think that just because a vehicle is maintained by a dealer that all the work was done with quality parts and done correctly? I've had more issues with dealers performing substandard work than I can shake a stick at and the reason I work on my own vechicles.
bulldog-yota
New member
I think it is always good to have a used vehicle tested and inspected thoroughly, compression, etc, etc. It will cost some money, but might just be worth it.
I dont know if I'll buy a LX with no service record or any premium vehicle that is reletively new. If they want the sale they can find the records.
On older vechiles lets say a LC80 or LX450, I would jsut have it inspected. AT those miles a service record means zip, it is the condition of the vehicle.
I dont know if I'll buy a LX with no service record or any premium vehicle that is reletively new. If they want the sale they can find the records.
On older vechiles lets say a LC80 or LX450, I would jsut have it inspected. AT those miles a service record means zip, it is the condition of the vehicle.
I just get a kick out of some of the threads where we argue about oil and OCI's and when most people buy a vehicle they have no idea how its been treated for 40-50K miles of its life. Could still have good compression but not last over 120K miles without needing to be overhauled. When I got out of the Marine Corp back in 1971 a buddy of mine had a Pontiac GTO that he had for 1 1/2 years and he never had changed the oil, just added it when it got low (not a car guy) car had around 25K miles on it (dino oil that had never had the oil/filter changed). We got under his car to drain the oil and it came out in clumps. We changed his oil 3 times in the next couple of weeks and it looked OK and the car did not smoke. He traded it in within a couple of months on my advise. I would not want that used car. It looked like new and ran OK but for how long?? I want to have receipts or see a dealer printout with records and I don't understand why dealers don't think those thinks are important? or why most buyers aren't smart enough to care.
bulldog-yota
New member
Yeah, but lot of good inspection places pick upon these stuff. For mechanical they do a comprression test, oil analysis and some other stuff. A buddy of mine uses them, since he likes saving money by buying 2nd hand, and he has always had good luck with his cars. I'll see if I can find out what exactly they do.
I prefer to buy new and then just run it. The 4R I bought to keep a long time, my BMW I wasn't planning on keeping so I just leased it and had it serviced as per service indicator. It did 14k miles for it's first change and the oil still looked ok, they come factory fil with some sort of Castrol syn I think and I had to add 1qt during the first 14k miles. It did more than 15k on the second oil fill before I sold it and the indicator said that it had 3k still to go, oil still looked good. I used the car mostly for long trips and highway and very little city, which probably explains the length between the oil changes. I sold it out of the lease and still put a few $$$ in my pocket when I got the 4R.
I wouldn't discount syn oils, lots of people have had good success when running them, in terms of MPG improvements, etc.
WHat I dont get is that dino cost like what alomst $2 a qt for good stuff and I can get M1 at Costco for $4 a qt, so per oil change it cost me $14 extra. And since I extended my OCI from 2500 to 5k it costs the same. Iwould also reason to say that I gained about .5-1MPG when I switched, but that is difficult to positively conclude since the 4R just broke in and I added lift and tires. The only way I will know is to put dino in now and see what it does for like 2 OCs, and the go back to M1 and see what it does. SO take .5 MPG extra over 5k miles and see what $$ work out then. Its more or less 10gal and at around $2.30 in these parts you can do the math. FOr me it cost less to use syn than dino due to the doubling in OCI I do from 2.5k to 5k and any MPG I gain is gravy.
I prefer to buy new and then just run it. The 4R I bought to keep a long time, my BMW I wasn't planning on keeping so I just leased it and had it serviced as per service indicator. It did 14k miles for it's first change and the oil still looked ok, they come factory fil with some sort of Castrol syn I think and I had to add 1qt during the first 14k miles. It did more than 15k on the second oil fill before I sold it and the indicator said that it had 3k still to go, oil still looked good. I used the car mostly for long trips and highway and very little city, which probably explains the length between the oil changes. I sold it out of the lease and still put a few $$$ in my pocket when I got the 4R.
I wouldn't discount syn oils, lots of people have had good success when running them, in terms of MPG improvements, etc.
WHat I dont get is that dino cost like what alomst $2 a qt for good stuff and I can get M1 at Costco for $4 a qt, so per oil change it cost me $14 extra. And since I extended my OCI from 2500 to 5k it costs the same. Iwould also reason to say that I gained about .5-1MPG when I switched, but that is difficult to positively conclude since the 4R just broke in and I added lift and tires. The only way I will know is to put dino in now and see what it does for like 2 OCs, and the go back to M1 and see what it does. SO take .5 MPG extra over 5k miles and see what $$ work out then. Its more or less 10gal and at around $2.30 in these parts you can do the math. FOr me it cost less to use syn than dino due to the doubling in OCI I do from 2.5k to 5k and any MPG I gain is gravy.
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