Ex-hire Exeo ST Tech Sport (odd history?)

[Dave H]

Hi Arnold Clark are currently selling some ex-hire Exeo ST Tech Sport 2011 plates for around £12.5-13k all with around 35k miles in the two years.

I happened to pop into Enterprise with the reg plate and asked about service history as there are no stamps in the logbook. The assistant pulled up the maintenance records to confirm service. I had a quick read and jotted down some figures

Reading the Enterprise history gave v.interesting reading -
28/03/11 Car was registered
29/03/12 Car was first recorded on Enterprise maintenance log
21/05/12 Serviced at 19792 miles (seem big miles to me eg 20k in 2 months)
26/10/12 Serviced at 33971 miles (14k in 5 months)
30/10/12 3 tyres replaced under 3mm
19/11/12 deleted from active file

Any thoughts out there?
Is it likley to have sat for 1 year doing nothing in a carpark somewhere?
It has covered 34k miles in effectively 5 months - should I be concerned?
What should I make a good point in checking for?

Cheers

 

[JohnMcL7]

This is an interesting question, when I was looking at 170's I was surprised they had two 11 plate Exeo's, same spec and both at 35K miles. Looking at the site now I count 11 Exeo all 11 plate with around 35K on the clock and a mix of estates/saloons, that seems a bit of a coincidence all are the same age and almost the same mileage. (on a different note, there is also an 11 plate with over 120K miles! Yikes)

I don't think the car has covered the 20K in two months, I think it's more likely it's done some miles between registration and Enterprise registering it. Although Enterprise have owned the cars, they don't look like hire cars apart from the fact they've been sold on quickly - I'd expect a larger variance in mileage. I don't know much about ex-hire cars though, I was reading a discussion about them on another forum and people didn't think they would do that high mileage before they got rid of them. The reckoning on that thread was a higher mileage car previously owned by the likes of Enterprise would be some sort of lease deal or something.

I don't think the mileage in itself is a concern, in fact with a diesel it may be better if it's been used for a lot of gentle motorway miles where the engine has been kept hot and the DPF clean. Comparatively a low miler that's been used for a lot of short distances is likely in a worse condition as the DPF will have had a tougher time regenerating and the DMF will have been hammered. You should be able to tell from the condition of the car what type of miles it's had, if it's a lot of short trips the inside is likely to look more worn and driving it the components should feel looser, more warn.

I was going to look at one of the 11 plate 35K miles Sport Tech 170's but it was sold before I came back up home and the other one they currently have has the Pioneer unit which I don't want. There's a new one just listed but I suspect it's that one again as the colour, miles and price match up.

Did you get a print out or anything from Enterprise as you were understandably concerned about a warranty claim when the car didn't have any official service history with Seat.

Edit: That car has a slightly different mileage so maybe it is yet another different 11 plate 35K mile car although the £500 lower price could mean it also has the Pioneer unit. Or I guess more likely, the mileage is just an estimate as I'm thinking even for this situation, it's too much of a coincidence.

John

 

[Dave H]

I asked Arnold Clark that I need the logbook book stamped as SEAT Fife had mentioned if any work was required under warranty that they would need assurance that it had been serviced before by approved trading company. The logbook is blank and I was asking AC to speak with Enterprise to trace the history to then get the stamps.

So I left it with AC but also walked into the local Enterprise office and said I was looking to buy one of their ex-hire cars were they able to get the stamps in the logbook - the assistant was not sure so pulled it up on the system and printed it out and went through the history with me (thankfully they were quiet, and also not sure if they are allowed to do this). Bonus that he handed me the print out when I asked him if it was ok to have the copy. To conclude the local office said there is no way to get the logbook stamped.

AC promise me that this can be done... On another note - the first entry on the maintenance history may be the first time anything was recorded so first year no problem. I may have read it wrong

John, FYI I managed to get Exeo ST 2.0TDI Sports Tech 2011 (11) with 35k miles for £12229 from the original asking price of £12688 (must of been 45 minutes getting it down). not including the add on of transfer of pvt plate, fuel top up of £25, tax. Trading in a car for £1200 as part of the deal. Took me ages to get the 2yr service plan, the vehicle replacement insurance and extended warranty off the deal (warning)


I probably know more about the car than I would any other car... eg bumper scrape repair was carried out in 21/05/12 and the assistant read it off the computer saying how big it was and where... professional repaired

 

[M7R]

Ex fleet can be good as generally you get a lot of detailed history as everything is charged back to the fleet management company.. My old Audi and golf were both ex fleet with full print outs inc new winscreens, bulbs changed, headlights changed etc etc...

However I have also worked for a hire car company... Admitidly a small company but its something to be aware of and will give an insight to the low millage...

Our cars were owned by a bigger leasing company and sub let to us... We had to maintain the cars and limit the millage on them... Generally we had them for 6months to a year, and had a max millage we could put on them, if we went over we could be fined...

For servicing ours were sent to a local indi garage to keep costs low, like wise if we had to change a tyre unless it was a premium car we fitted a budget tyre.. Everything was the bare min required!

Also if the cars reached the agreed millage early we just parked them up in the yard and didn't use them unless we had too...

Most ex fleet won't be like this, but be careful, and likewise the fact these exeos did 35k pretty quick then nothing maybe due to the agreement being they will be on hire for 2 years but the millage limited, they won't have cost anything to moth ball and will have earnt all their revenue in 6 months...

 

[Troll]

Here's what I know about enterprise as my company have had 6 Enterprise cars on a long hire for the last 2 years. Some cars they keep for a long time, for example the Insignia's we had were into 30k before they were recalled to be sold (we heard they bought these new for 11k!!

The likes of the Toyota and my current Hyundai IX35 its 6-12 months max, mine is going back next week, and I have had it since July, its now nearly on 24k and NOT been serviced yet!!

All our servicing was done by a man in a van, and when I needed some tyres on my Mondeo enterprise wouldn't sign off 3 new tyres, and the tyre man said they wanted to put budgets on it.

We have 2 Seat Leon's at the moment 62 plates eco things, good spec though.

Personally I wouldn't buy from an ex HIRE car, but an ex LEASE car is a different story as they are looked after properly and generally serviced by main dealers, our Arval cars were very well looked after.

Hope that helps.
Mark

 

[M7R]

Back up my exp from owning ex lease .. My Audi was Aviva... And working for a hire firm..

 

[jakey boy]

I asked Arnold Clark that I need the logbook book stamped as SEAT Fife had mentioned if any work was required under warranty that they would need assurance that it had been serviced before by approved trading company. The logbook is blank and I was asking AC to speak with Enterprise to trace the history to then get the stamps.

So I left it with AC but also walked into the local Enterprise office and said I was looking to buy one of their ex-hire cars were they able to get the stamps in the logbook - the assistant was not sure so pulled it up on the system and printed it out and went through the history with me (thankfully they were quiet, and also not sure if they are allowed to do this). Bonus that he handed me the print out when I asked him if it was ok to have the copy. To conclude the local office said there is no way to get the logbook stamped.

AC promise me that this can be done... On another note - the first entry on the maintenance history may be the first time anything was recorded so first year no problem. I may have read it wrong

John, FYI I managed to get Exeo ST 2.0TDI Sports Tech 2011 (11) with 35k miles for £12229 from the original asking price of £12688 (must of been 45 minutes getting it down). not including the add on of transfer of pvt plate, fuel top up of £25, tax. Trading in a car for £1200 as part of the deal. Took me ages to get the 2yr service plan, the vehicle replacement insurance and extended warranty off the deal (warning)


I probably know more about the car than I would any other car... eg bumper scrape repair was carried out in 21/05/12 and the assistant read it off the computer saying how big it was and where... professional repaired

Another exeo in perth ? I'll have to look out for you !!

 

[Dave H]

Another exeo in perth ? I'll have to look out for you !!

not yet... trying to get trust with salesman is very difficult...
(update) as I was awaiting a reply to confirm whether the previous servicing can be traced so to get the logbook stamped. - The seller confirmed that only one service was the record (even though it was orginially 2), so I informed them that I would not buy it with one history. The salesman said that it was ok to have one service at 34kmiles as it was on longlife service intervals! a shorttime later, minutes, I receive an update saying that the first service was done but registerd to a Porsche Cayanne model, but the seller assures me it the first service was completed at 20k.

This has been so difficult when simply asking whether I can get stamps/evidence that it has been serviced so to validate the final year warranty... so disappointed to say that I am not buying this one (it just doesnt add up), but will keep looking.

 

[JohnMcL7]

I'm sorry to hear you've been mucked about like that although I guess I'm not surprised as I've had that a couple of times, you'd think the garages would appreciate that you'd want to make sure the car has been properly serviced anyway but particularly when the warranty is reliant on it.

I was dubious about going to see the 170 car from Arnold Clark which was the 11 plate with 35K miles on the clock but gave them a phone and it seems that the listing on the website is an error as I thought so that makes it an easy choice.

John

 

[jakey boy]

Good luck with the hunt Dave, I was fortunate to buy the first one I really viewed, but had to travel to rothetham to get it

 

[JohnMcL7]

It seems like Arnold Clark have managed to confuse themselves with all these 11 plate ex-lease or whatever they are Exeos as the one they told me was a duplicate and therefore sold has now been updated and shows a different car, this one silver with the RNS-E unit rather than a bluey-silver with the Pioneer one.

I was going to pop down and have a look as it's relatively close compared to the others but on second thoughts I think I'll leave it, it's still over 250 miles for the round drive and I suspect it's going to be the same as the one the OP saw with no service history. If it was a facelifted one I might be tempted to give it a go but it's not plus it's done a fair few miles for its age.

John

 

[Nautical]

Looking to replace my own workhorse 51 plate A4 that's given sterling service to current 210k miles.

Been reading up on Exeo ST for some time and hoping to bag a (price permitting) Sport Tech model sometime soon.

Hoping March '13 registrations will both increase supply of '11 plate models and create price drop of same now they're 2 years old.

Was the "facelift" available for the 61 plate, or only on later 12 regs? Is that when the rear legroom/door pillar changes were introduced?

 

[M7R]

It was a 12 model year update, normally a model year starts from October ish... The year before...some manufactures are slightly different but its normally before the start of the year... However in this case I don't recall seeing any 61 plates with the new lights, I could be wrong, but I am sure there was a number of cheaper 12 plates with the old lights,

The re shaped rear seats was a 11my update I think... Maybe even before then, so a 11 plate will prob have the different rear seat, you can see when you look at a b6/7 vs the later exeos, the seat squab is higher and the seat back foam is thinner to make the rear occupant sit further back in the seat.

 

[JohnMcL7]

It was a 12 model year update, normally a model year starts from October ish... The year before...some manufactures are slightly different but its normally before the start of the year... However in this case I don't recall seeing any 61 plates with the new lights, I could be wrong, but I am sure there was a number of cheaper 12 plates with the old lights,

I agree - I don't recall seeing any 61 plates with the new lights, I've seen 12 plates with new and old lights and most 62 plates have the new lights but also seen them with old lights as well:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ed/advert-type/standard-listing?logcode=ucnnp

John

 

[M7R]

That's because unless its a sport it doesn't have the hid's all lower models still have the halogen lamps and the hids with led tail lights are an optional extra.

 

[Nautical]

Thanks chaps - being London based I'm hoping Car Giant will pickup some trade-ins. They've had some good prices on their '10 plate models in the recent past (usually higher miles admittedly), although they have no stock of Exeos currently.

I see Motorpoint are also out of them...lets hope the new '13 reg sales will produce some good 2-3 year old examples.

 

[JohnMcL7]

That's because unless its a sport it doesn't have the hid's all lower models still have the halogen lamps and the hids with led tail lights are an optional extra.

Ah, thanks - so does the Sport have the LED lights front and back as standard?

John

 

[M7R]

Yes the hids are standard on sports, Long with led rear lights.... If I'm honest I prefer the normal rears as the LEDs look a bit cheap... You can see each led rather than them being behind a light bar... However they are nice and bright!!!!

 

[Larfinboy]

The back LEDs are so bright I have had a couple of people flash and turn on their fog lights as if I have left my fogs on - so I then turn the fogs on to dazzled them even more (me thinks they need to go to spec savers if the red is flaring!)