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I'm considering buying an Audi A3 from 2013, from an official Audi dealership. It's in good condition as far as I can tell, and has all the options I need.

The problem is that they don't have a service history on their system for it (even though the car was bought new there). They told me the previous owner probably thought he had to bring it for service at 20,000 miles or 2 years, and since he did only 18,000 miles maybe thought he didn't need to bring it. It's been serviced now and has no problems, and also comes with one year warranty.

Still, I'm wondering, is this lack of a service history a red flag? Or does it happen often?

laurent
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1 Answers1

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This is something like buying a large farm at a great price with just one glitch: the owner tells you there may be a couple landmines hidden on the property somewhere.

With this amount of lack of service, the vehicle risks having some serious engine wear that will show sooner or later. If servicing included oil changes, you'll have a fairly large risk of premature engine wear. This may or may not show up within the aforesaid 1 year warranty coverage, though the likelihood is that it won't.

That being said, a car with premature aging won't kill you if you drive it. It's a judgement call you have to make: if it does turn out that you have to replace the car sooner than planned, are you willing to make that investment? There is a possibility that the engine is absolutely fine, but there are also fairly high probabilities that there is extra wear.

It's a call for you to make.

anonymous2
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