Hi

I would appreciate some advice about a car I was thinking of buying for my son.

I've paid a reservation fee for a 64 plate Red Edition with 26k on the clock. The garage has sent me a FSH and supporting invoices. It looks as though there has been a regular oil change (at least 5 oil changes) using the correct oil and on the face of it it looks like it's worth buying.

The problem is the timing belt issue. I assume as the car is nearly 10 years old I should get the timing belt changed even though it's only done 26k miles? 

The car is £8800 and at the very top end of my budget. If the advice is to get a timing belt change it wouldn't be worth buying.

Any advice one whether to buy the car or not would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Rick

If it’s a 1.0 then wet belt is due next year. £1500 ish to change. 
 

Low mileage if anything is worse for the wet belt as it could mean the engine rarely got hot enough. 

Yes it's 1l

Thanks for the info

I would also not consider 5 oil changes in 10 years to be adequate on this engine.  The changes need to be at least every 12 months as oil degrades over time as well as mileage.  (More so with short journeys as it get's diluted with raw petrol at cold starts and never gets hot enough to burn off moisture from the air).  It is oil degradation that accelerates wetbelt deterioration.  With this is in mind, paying extra for a low mileage example is not a good idea in my opinion.