2023 Toyota Corolla Pricing and Specs

Plenty of used cars change hands without service books in the glovebox. But this is usually a problem in older cars where the vehicle is well and truly out of warranty. In a newer cars such as yours, the lack of any service history in the car would be a major red flag.

There’s no law requiring a car dealer to provide a service history, just as there’s no law compelling owners to have their cars serviced correctly, even though failing to do so will often void the car’s warranty. And how can a dealer be responsible for a car’s service books if the previous owner lost them? Also, if the car hasn’t been serviced within the Toyota dealership network, how can a dealership determine what that service history has been?

But here’s what’s probably happened: Many dealerships (especially high-volume ones) remove the service handbook, owner’s manual and the second key from the car before it goes on the lot. That’s to prevent those things going 'missing' over the weeks the car is on sale and being test driven by who-knows-who. In my experience, there will be one person at that car-yard who will know where the books and keys and stored and until you find that person, their location will remain a mystery. But, if the car was bought on the condition that the service books would be sent to you, then that forms part of the contract of sale and the car-yard must produce them. In the meantime, since you don’t know when the last service was carried out, I’d be pushing for a free service to ensure the car doesn’t wind up with a skipped service based on time and kilometres.