Why wouldn't you keep service history, receipts etc.?
Discussion
I have always kept on file every significant invoice for work done on any of my cars, whether a service book was present or not. Come selling-on time these are then shown to potential buyers to list the work done and finally passed on to the subsequent owner.
It's no great hardship to keep the documents safe (like utility bills, bank statements, etc.), so why do so few people do it? Even the service book and handbook seem to be considered optional extras these days. And don't get me started on the spare key....
It's no great hardship to keep the documents safe (like utility bills, bank statements, etc.), so why do so few people do it? Even the service book and handbook seem to be considered optional extras these days. And don't get me started on the spare key....
this also confuses me, you are indeed correct and it is very easy to keep in a file like with utility bills etc - I guess if you are that way inclined.
I suppose that it is a very good indication of a car(whether said items are present or not)and owner as to the way it would have been looked after.
One of my biggest hates is people advertising cars where "full service history but book lost in house move will forward if I find it". I believe that 99.9% of the time that is a lie and it is either clocked, hasn't been serviced or is hiding something.
I also don't understand why people buy cars without service history of any form. I just spent weeks sorting a family members car that had nothing s/h wise present when it was bought from a small local garage - why even bother, it wasn't even that cheap.
I contacted Vaux and to be fair they traced a few things work wise including the non start issue I was trying to fix. It was a shed lemon money pit. Reckon it hadn't been serviced for years. However it was only 7 years old and was very clean and tidy and too good to scrap. I fixed it up and sold it at a slight loss only so someone else didn't have to suffer and the fate of the brakes down to the shims, the ceased caliper or knackered suspension!
We had an MX5 mk3 for a few years, some people hate Mazdas digital S/H system where you don't have a service book, it is all held online on the computer system and you get an updated summary print out of all services after each service. Great I suppose until you take it to a local indy and there's nothing for them to stamp!
Getting a bit OT so rant over...............
I suppose that it is a very good indication of a car(whether said items are present or not)and owner as to the way it would have been looked after.
One of my biggest hates is people advertising cars where "full service history but book lost in house move will forward if I find it". I believe that 99.9% of the time that is a lie and it is either clocked, hasn't been serviced or is hiding something.
I also don't understand why people buy cars without service history of any form. I just spent weeks sorting a family members car that had nothing s/h wise present when it was bought from a small local garage - why even bother, it wasn't even that cheap.
I contacted Vaux and to be fair they traced a few things work wise including the non start issue I was trying to fix. It was a shed lemon money pit. Reckon it hadn't been serviced for years. However it was only 7 years old and was very clean and tidy and too good to scrap. I fixed it up and sold it at a slight loss only so someone else didn't have to suffer and the fate of the brakes down to the shims, the ceased caliper or knackered suspension!
We had an MX5 mk3 for a few years, some people hate Mazdas digital S/H system where you don't have a service book, it is all held online on the computer system and you get an updated summary print out of all services after each service. Great I suppose until you take it to a local indy and there's nothing for them to stamp!
Getting a bit OT so rant over...............
Yeah, but you've bothered to organise a service/repair, probably drove the car there yourself (maybe together with a second car) and then paid the invoice, so why not keep it as a hard-copy record of the work done?
It's much easier to show someone the paperwork when they come to view, than expect them to faff about chasing the history by contacting dealers, independents etc.
It's much easier to show someone the paperwork when they come to view, than expect them to faff about chasing the history by contacting dealers, independents etc.
LotusOmega375D said:
Yeah, but you've bothered to organise a service/repair, probably drove the car there yourself (maybe together with a second car) and then paid the invoice, so why not keep it as a hard-copy record of the work done?
It's much easier to show someone the paperwork when they come to view, than expect them to faff about chasing the history by contacting dealers, independents etc.
Because you fold it neatly in half and place it on the passenger seat, drive home, pop it on the coffee table whilst you have a brew. Nip for a sIt's much easier to show someone the paperwork when they come to view, than expect them to faff about chasing the history by contacting dealers, independents etc.
t/shower/shave/whatever. Then your missus bins it because 'the living room looks a total st tip'.
Some people just don't care. The same people probably use the cheapest oil they can find and have four different brands of tyres on and think an MOT and service are the same thing. Not everyone likes cars, and not everyone cares, or stops to think about the significance of service history. I keep everything apart from the fuel bills!
Motorrad said:
I keep everything even wiper blade receipts etc.
Yep, me too.And hence, every time I sell a car (amazingly I have had a 100% success rate from Ebay, for the last 4 or 5 cars I have sold - but possibly because I include rakes of photos, a huge description, and pictures of all the history, including things like wiper blade receipts) the buyers have always turned up, paid the money and driven off well happy, giving me compliments on the paperwork I have kept.
It really makes a difference for selling.
And as for buying - well, I just don't buy from anyone who hasn't shared my love of careful, documented maintenance.
There's just no need to rush into buying a car from a careless d
head! If one waits long enough, the perfect car with the perfect history always arrives eventually.sparks_E39 said:
Some people just don't care. The same people probably use the cheapest oil they can find and have four different brands of tyres on
That's a bit of an assumption. I'm guilty of not keeping all my stuff in a file. Replaced tyres recently. Reasonable brand. After a Saturday morning of dropping car off, taking kids to soft play, picking up car, going shopping, having scoff, sorting out receipts was low priority. So it's in the footwell, and next time I find I'm giving my MIL a lift somewhere it'll get bundled into the kitchen and lost.Last time I bought a car, the seller had carefully laid out all the MOT certificates, a thick wodge of invoices and receipts, service book, V5c and 2 folders full of manuals on the kitchen table ready for me to look through, the car had all 4 keys with it, even the toolkit in the bootlid didn't have anything missing. This pretty much sold me the car before I'd even test driven it.
I've always been the same as the above posters: keep every reciept, bill etc. However, I've discovered that when you trade your car into a garage/main dealer they are interested in nothing but the service book and all your carefully kept history goes straight in the bin!
Unless of course you are dealing with specialist dealers I guess where such things matter.
Unless of course you are dealing with specialist dealers I guess where such things matter.
Depends on the car. The TVR I have a folder with every receipt from the original sales invoice right through to the wiper blade I bought last week.
For the Jag which will still be worth a few quid when I have finished with it I just shove the service receipts and MOTs into a file and make sure I get the sercvice book stamped. IME most people just look at the service book anyway and look at you like you are weird when you hand them a pile of receipts.
The family run arounds I dont bother as they will be driven until they are worn out then sold for a few quid. I usually just hold on to the last service receipt when I know I am going to sell them in the next 12 months. At the £250-£400 end of the marked all they want to see are the tyres and that it works, service history is largely irrelevant.
For the Jag which will still be worth a few quid when I have finished with it I just shove the service receipts and MOTs into a file and make sure I get the sercvice book stamped. IME most people just look at the service book anyway and look at you like you are weird when you hand them a pile of receipts.
The family run arounds I dont bother as they will be driven until they are worn out then sold for a few quid. I usually just hold on to the last service receipt when I know I am going to sell them in the next 12 months. At the £250-£400 end of the marked all they want to see are the tyres and that it works, service history is largely irrelevant.
A lot of people are completely disorganised in most aspects of their lives, diligently keeping track of maintenance of a machine isn't on their radar, they dont give a toss about it as long as it gets them to work and the shops and they cant understand why someone who is going to buy it second-hand would care either.
If they drive round on bald tyres with bulbs out then they arent going to keep a folder, in fact there is probably sod all to put in it.
I think we all have this desire to present the new owner of your P and J with this forensic history and be congratulated on its upkeep, that has happened to me, but also I have had people just look at it, drive it round the block, hand over some cash and ps off with barely a word.
If they drive round on bald tyres with bulbs out then they arent going to keep a folder, in fact there is probably sod all to put in it.
I think we all have this desire to present the new owner of your P and J with this forensic history and be congratulated on its upkeep, that has happened to me, but also I have had people just look at it, drive it round the block, hand over some cash and p
s off with barely a word.Going to hold my head up now and say... I keep the service book, MOT etc, but receipts? Nope!
Reason being all my parts are ordered online, so the 'receipt' is normally taped to the front of the box the parcel arrives in, and gets binned along with it, so I never get to keep the receipt, if they did a separate one I probably would...
Reason being all my parts are ordered online, so the 'receipt' is normally taped to the front of the box the parcel arrives in, and gets binned along with it, so I never get to keep the receipt, if they did a separate one I probably would...
I generally keep the receipts for any major work that has been done and any services. Things like wiper blades, tyres etc... I don't worry, its not difficult to look at the car and see their condition, I don't see how a receipt helps in these cases!
When I service a car myself I generally try to buy all parts from the same place (i.e. ECP) therefore there is a single receipt for everything that has been carried out, makes the history a lot easier to read and more likely to be trusted than 10 receipts from various places to cover 1 service.
When I service a car myself I generally try to buy all parts from the same place (i.e. ECP) therefore there is a single receipt for everything that has been carried out, makes the history a lot easier to read and more likely to be trusted than 10 receipts from various places to cover 1 service.
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Motorrad said:
I keep everything even wiper blade receipts etc.
Yep, me too.All very nicely filed (with plastic wallets) in a folder. I also document all the work done (date and mileage).
All contributes to the 'full service history'
When I sold my E30
Edited by g3org3y on Thursday 24th July 14:35
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