I bought a Toyota IQ-2 which missed its first service by 1000 miles - what problems could this have caused?

I bought a July 2009 Toyota IQ-2 from a reputable dealer last weekend after receiving a good trade-in value for my car. The advert said that the Toyota had a full service history and had done 11,004 miles. Having collected the car and driven it home, some 120 miles, then read the manual and service history, I found that the car had its first intermediate service on 08/10/10 at 11,004 miles. It should have been done at 12 months or 10,000 miles, whichever came first. This type of service is a health check and only the oil and filter need replacing if necessary. However, the car must, therefore, have been sat on the forecourt for six months until I bought it. I've since taken the car to a Toyota dealer and had the second year service carried out two months earlier than necessary as I wanted to make sure that the engine oil and filter were replaced should they not have been at the intermediate service. Could you advise whether the car would have suffered by simply lounging on the forecourt for these six months and whether the selling garage should have carried out any service before handing me the keys to drive away?
The battery may be weakened, there may be rust eating into the brake discs (which you can check by looking through the wheels) or the tyres could have flatspotted (but you'd have noticed that). There could also be condensation corrosion inside the exhaust system, but if the car is running fine and the warranty is intact I don't think you have anything much to worry about, and if it's a 1.0 manual at 99g/km CO2 you can register it for Congestion Charge exemption as well as paying zero VED.
Answered by Honest John on

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