Hello all,

New poster here - I've been soaking up your pearls of wisdom on previous threads and thought I'd ask a question.

I'm considering buying a TA 500c privately. 6yrs old with 31000 miles and mostly used as a city car. I did the inspection and the oil, brake fluid etc all look good. Checked for signs of wear and tear and the test drive felt good.

Although there are some receipts, the owner doesn't have the logbook with servicing stamps. I do believe it's been taken care of but not sure how worried I should be. The MOT history is clean with only one advisory 3 months ago (Offside Front Inner Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge). At that time the owner was told it didn't need a service because the mileage was low.

How concerned should I be? If I were to buy it, what kind of service would you recommend I have done? A full one?

Many thanks.

What oil receipts?

The oil is critical on these

Tell us which brand and spec is in it


Most get 6k or annual..
Or you risk the £700 injection unit

Thanks for the quick reply. Sadly it doesn’t say which brand/spec was used. I’ve asked if they can get in touch with the garage they’ve taken it to in case they have records on file. Not holding my breath...

On a side note, how much less would you expect to offer given the lack of service history? I honestly do think it’s in pretty good nick but am aware it will affect the price when I come to sell. I’ve read online it could be anywhere for 5-20% though maybe that’s for more expensive cars. It might not matter so much on a £4500 motor but it’s still a big chunk of cash for me.

Cheers.

Welcome. Has owner taken car to Fiat for servicing?! In which case, see if do a value service and book car in and ask for dates and mileages while it's there. You wouldn't get bills reprinted for you due to data protection. If been looked after, you'd be unlucky if issues. Otherwise you'd be lucky if never used oil and the uniair system died (4 figure bill). If that went and used loads of oil too the car would need secondhand engine.

As said in another thread today, are you sure you couldn't afford a nearly new 1.2 on a finance deal instead?!

typecastboy Possible buyer for one of your projects. ?

It is perfectly reasonable to consider that a car that has only done ~31,000 miles, may not have had any services done at all, the lack of service record my be a way of covering for this. Also be sure to check every chassis and serial number on the car matches the V5c and then get it HPI checked. this could easily be something like a ringer, where a car has been clocked and the identity change to cover a stolen or crashed car, then a V5c for the original car applied for, and put with this "ringer" I would tread extremely carefully.

The twin air relies on the oil for more than just lubricating the engine as pressurised oil is used to control the valve timing. This actuator that controls this is incredibly expensive and if not fed nice clean well looked after oil it can do catastrophic damage.

Having been looking around myself at Fiat 500s and the trends in pricing, there are many people seriously overcharging for 500s of all backgrounds.

In my opinion £4500 is too much for this car without any service record at all.

You can get some very well priced cars from the main dealers at the moment, better than than motor traders, and if you have £4500 saved up then you will get a very good deal, especially if you are willing to buy now, when many of the dealerships are struggling to sell cars during lock down. you could for example buy something much newer with a very small finance deal

I always phone around to track service history. Call Fiat customer service to see who sold it new. They will tell you. Call them up and give them the reg and ask about any history they have in file.

Look at the company name on any window stickers or number plates and do the same. Also mot history will tell you where they were done if you are the V5. You can call them too.

I do this all the time and can usually trace it all.

Al D said:

typecastboy Possible buyer for one of your projects. [emoji6]

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Mines a 1.2 not a twin air

AndyRKett said:

It is perfectly reasonable to consider that a car that has only done ~31,000 miles, may not have had any services done at all, the lack of service record my be a way of covering for this. Also be sure to check every chassis and serial number on the car matches the V5c and then get it HPI checked. this could easily be something like a ringer, where a car has been clocked and the identity change to cover a stolen or crashed car, then a V5c for the original car applied for, and put with this "ringer" I would tread extremely carefully.

In my opinion £4500 is too much for this car without any service record at all.

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Pretty much my thoughts..

I know 500's are a very strange market..
But for a 2014 car that seems a lot (its basically 2 generations old..)

anyway... most Fiats would drop to that price at 3 years.. not 6

Thanks all for the replies. In answer to your comments:

- I’m waiting to hear where it was taken for servicing but likely independent garages rather than Fiat.

- The oil looked good when I checked so I don’t think it’s a negligent owner. I suspect a “detached” one who isn’t great at keeping records and doesn't realise how important / useful they are.

- To be honest I forgot to check the serial number but inspected carefully and couldn’t see signs of damage/repair. HPI came back clear too.

- As for looking at new models on finance, I’d rather not commit to anything with the economic uncertainty at the moment so would rather buy for the cash I have saved. I agree £4500 is a higher than most but it’s a good spec S variant so I expected it to be a little more.

I’ll see what comes back on Monday when they’ve done some digging. Hopefully just be a case of an owner not keeping records but I'll be cautious.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Non FIAT : a strong likelyhood its not had the correct oil

Is this a private sale..?

varesecrazy said:

Non FIAT : a strong likelyhood its not had the correct oil

Is this a private sale..?

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Yep, private sale. Now you’ve got me worried!

If everything checks out that it's a straight car, and you can get a decent chunk off the price, I would still consider it if its condition is very good. Allow for getting a major service carried out by someone who knows what they are doing. This must include the correct oil, spark plugs, and preferably the mesh filter for the twinair valve system. This is not a normal service item, but can clog up if the oil is incorrect or hasn't been changed enough.
I ran a twinair engined 500 from new for 6 years, servicing it correctly. The only problem over those 40-odd thousand miles was a slight weep from the coolant bottle. My wife now has a 1.2 which has also been perfect, but as it's coming up to 5 years old will shortly need a few hundred quid spending on a new cambelt - not something you have to worry about with a TA. The TA has much more go, too, albeit it's less smooth.
Let us know how you get on.

TrevC said:

If everything checks out that it's a straight car, and you can get a decent chunk off the price, I would still consider it if its condition is very good. Allow for getting a major service carried out by someone who knows what they are doing. This must include the correct oil, spark plugs, and preferably the mesh filter for the twinair valve system. This is not a normal service item, but can clog up if the oil is incorrect or hasn't been changed enough.
I ran a twinair engined 500 from new for 6 years, servicing it correctly. The only problem over those 40-odd thousand miles was a slight weep from the coolant bottle. My wife now has a 1.2 which has also been perfect, but as it's coming up to 5 years old will shortly need a few hundred quid spending on a new cambelt - not something you have to worry about with a TA. The TA has much more go, too, albeit it's less smooth.
Let us know how you get on.

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Thank you. I've contacted a local independent garage which specialises in Fiat's for a quote on a major service and will see if I can knock that off the asking price. I'll let you know how I get on.

jgb said:

Yep, private sale. Now you’ve got me worried!

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Check v5c to see how long current keeper has been current keeper. See if that matches up with what you are being told.
If current keeper has been current keeper for a short time something could be very fishy.

Check address on v5c is where you are seeing car.

In the end they sold it to someone else whilst tracking down the service history for me! Thank you all for you thoughts - I think I've found a good 1.2 which should be less trouble anyway. Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.

Cheers.

The 1.2 is a very well proven motor..
No nasty surprises

Just avoid the era when the fuelling went awry.. see 'Watchdog thread' in 500 section

Yes, the 1.2 is well proven, smooth and economical. As I said above, the cambelt change is an additional expense that the TA doesn't have, and there is the potential for a nasty surprise if the sump rusts through. Having experienced a few years with each engine, I'd swap our 1.2 for a TA in a heartbeat, but it's a personal decision with no real right or wrong.

Hi,

Late 2010 500s 1.4.........when sorting out some things underneath front end one was a look see MoT advisory on slight oil leak which when all cleaned up does not seem to have reappeared so could have just been a spill on top up. At the front we had a look also at our sump and it sure looked alloy............were we looking at the wrong part:bang:

Already admitted and owned up we are not mechanics but do TRY with the forums help

Farrah

TrevC said:

Yes, the 1.2 is well proven, smooth and economical. As I said above, the cambelt change is an additional expense that the TA doesn't have, and there is the potential for a nasty surprise if the sump rusts through. Having experienced a few years with each engine, I'd swap our 1.2 for a TA in a heartbeat, but it's a personal decision with no real right or wrong.

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I don’t know how the majority of the EU Tychy Fiats have the 1.2 69, how do those things get around with 68hp? Don’t even think about the 1.0 TwinAir 60, you won’t go anywhere with 59hp. Get the TwinAir 85, TwinAir 105, 1.4 100 or the 1.4 MultiAir 105 if you can. The extra 2-3k or whatever is worth it especially in emergencies when you need the thing to get up and go.