Audi A5 (2008 - 58) TDI 2.7 Sports : Unknown Service History

[AudiA5User]

Hi Peeps,

Just been looking for a used Audi A5 and came across one on a 58 plate, on viewing the car it was immaculate on the outside and was fully equipped with Nav. After having a look around the car at the garage I noticed the front bumper had been resprayed and that the front radiator was not masked when resprayed making the bottom of the radiator lightly coated with the color of the car. We had a look around the engine compartment which looked legit and checked the vehicle chassis no. this matched the one in the onboard computer shown on the display. Other than this the left rear quarter panel seem a bit off by a few millimeters with the rear bumper compared to the right rear quarter panel which was flush. One major issue we had was that the service booklet was missing for no apparent reason. The car has had 2 owners, one being pre-registered by Audi and the other a female driver.

The thing that attracted us to this vehicle was that it had only approx. 9,800 miles on it!! (Alarm bells ringing)

We did a HPI check on the vehicle and the check came back all clear, and had called the HPI customer service team to verify one discrepancy which was related to the V5 issue date but was told this was a problem in their system and that the date we inputted was correct (still shows invalid V5 issue date when checked again on HPI website).

After a little further investigation with the main Audi dealer who sold and serviced the car we found that the car had it first service in 2009 with a recorded mileage of 7,000 miles, this was fine. However, after asking further questions about its further services they said they had no records since the first service this provoked further questions like is it possible the car was not driven by the second owner and is it possible only a further 2,800 miles was put on in the 3 years to date. This was a possibility when the Audi main dealer customer rep told us, as they had other customers like an old lady who only used the car to get round to the shops only, but even she was slightly suspicious.

Having spoken to the Audi main dealer, we looked at the last service this vehicle had which was Feb 2012 this year and the recorded mileage was 9,700 miles with another Audi dealer near to the premises the garage was located. Having spoken to this Audi dealer they stated that they have serviced the vehicle and verified the mileage, to which no further information is given.

We went one step further contacting the MOT service station that MOT'd the vehicle on the 16/03/2012 of this year (first MOT) and noted the mileage was 9751 Miles on their record, which again lead to no further information.

After further phone calls to the garage that was selling the car we asked for details of the history, and for them to verify the mileage to which they couldn't but was able to provide details from where they purchase the vehicle which was at an auction from WeBuyAnyCar.com

Anyway to cut a long story short we have started to have cold-feet on this car and after speaking with some family members and a local VAG mechanic they have stated that the vehicle is very suspicious. After some careful thoughts we have decided to withdraw from the purchase but very reluctantly as the vehicle looked in good condition, whether it has mileage correction we don't know as the service log book is missing which is a no go.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had something like this happen to them, and in the end withdrew from the purchase?

Best Regards,
A5AudiUser

[AudiA5User]

A few more details about the vehicle:

Model: A5 2.7 TDI Sports
Reg: FY58MWK
Registered: Oct 2008
Visual Mileage: 9857 Miles
Owners: 1


HPI stated they could not guarantee the mileage on this vehicle is correct.
V5 log book details was not registered with HPI, as we had to provide these details
The date of the V5 log book did not verify with the HPI database when checked
Audi Manchester said that the vehicle had it's first service at 7k miles, but no further records of any further services.
MOT was done only done on 16/03/2012 (should of been done 2011, but no further MOT records were found prior to this)

[zollaf]

it would be very unusual to correct the mileage to that figure. if you are going to do it, you need to make it believable. it does sound like its just been a third car, or owned by someone old. the bumper may have been sprayed because it had a small scratch and it was just to tidy it up, or its had a nasty one and been rebuilt, you just don't know. sounds like a good decision to not buy it though, if you are not 100 % sure then walk away. hpi is possible to get around.
possibly the owner passed away and the car was sold asap by relatives to wbac.com, as its a quick and easy way to dispose of a vehicle with no grief.