Sunday 18th March 2018

PH Service History: Stamped Out

'Full Service History' is a term that's rapidly disappearing from used car adverts. Should we care?

---

"A full service history is overrated anyway," said the friend I was talking to. "I've always bought on condition and on the strength of a test drive, regardless of any history, and I've never had a problem."

His point was in disagreement with my long-time contention that a full history is worth its weight in gold. True, it doesn't necessarily affect a car's longevity if it's missed a service or two. But a service record which proves it hasn't, and that everything's been done on time, suggests - if not guarantees - diligence by the previous owner in other areas.

Certainly, whenever I'm browsing around for my next used car purchase, a fully stamped book or, even better, a wodge of invoices is a big plus point. But exactly what counts as a full service history? I'd define it as evidence, in stamp or invoice form, of every service having been carried out on time or at the correct mileage, in accordance with the manufacturer's servicing schedule, throughout a car's life.

Others, of course, might have a looser definition - simply, for example, that there's a record of every service the car's had. To my mind, that isn't a full service history - it doesn't prove that all of the required servicing has been carried out correctly, merely that some of it has.

Either way, if you're like me, you'll lament the fact that the concept of a full history has, in recent years, become a somewhat amorphous one. The proliferation of on-board servicing indicators are in part to blame for that, and have led to the time when your car really should be serviced becoming far more malleable. Some of these systems operate solely on mileage; others work by factoring in the type of driving you've been doing and the loads on the engine, and extending or reducing the interval based thereon; still others actually check the condition of the oil using an oil condition sensor and tell you when it's past its best.

However, few take account of the time factor involved in most service schedules - and in these instances, low-mileage drivers who follow the service indicator religiously still won't technically end up with a full service history, as I'd define it.

Does that matter? Perhaps not. Indeed, if your car's told you when it needs a service, based on the condition of the oil, you might argue that it's had all the servicing it needs. But as a buyer, I'd counter that it's then impossible to know whether a seller has serviced the car when the light came on - or simply ignored it and waited until thousands of miles thereafter.

Long-life servicing schedules don't help. Nowadays, a nine-year-old car with 90,000 miles on the clock can have a full service history, by my definition, even if there are only four stamps in the book. Doesn't feel like enough to me, but it does meet with the manufacturer's schedule.

So, is a full service history still relevant? I think so, even if it's less important than it once was. After all, if nothing else, a nicely completed book, with roughly the right number of stamps from reputable independents or main dealers, shows at least that some servicing has been carried out - and in that regard, it's better than nothing at all.

Besides, if you happen upon a car that's had an oil change at least every year anyway, regardless of the mileage or any condition-based service indicator or any long-life service schedule, you can be fairly certain the owner knows what he's about and has spent well on other aspects of the car's maintenance. The sort of car you'll probably want to snap up, in other words.

Perhaps the way forward lies in the electronic service history. This involves a service record stored in the car's on-board memory, which can tell you what work was done and when by accessing it through the car's touchscreen or dashboard display, or even through a linked app on a phone or tablet. As far as I'm aware, such systems don't yet tell you whether the car was serviced within a reasonable mileage of the light coming on - but were they to do so, they might provide a much better record of a car's servicing than a simple stamp and a scribbled date.

Happily, every manufacturer that operates this sort of system must make the bits necessary to upload data to a car's electronic service history available to non-franchise. Fine for a marque specialist; however, your local multi-marque independent will have to invest in the software multiple times - something they're unlikely to want to do.

So it seems to me that there's still a place for for doing things the old-fashioned way; for keeping hold of invoices, or investing in a physical service book to have stamped. But of course, owners who fully understand these new systems and therefore have the presence of mind to do so will likely dwindle, and so, therefore, will the ubiquity of the full service history. Which brings me back to the original question: do you care?

[Esceptico]

When I moved to Switzerland I took the FSH mentality with me. Found that it wasn’t really important there. People bought more on current condition rather than whether it had been serviced in the past. They didn’t seem to bother keeping receipts either (or didn’t pass them on with the car).

[Esceptico]

PSH said:

FSH doesn't mean a car is well looked after or even in good condition....a wad of receipts to show the work that's been done during the current owners ownership is of much more importance. It's reasonably easy to see a spot that's been cherished ...number of owners is a good guide to how well the car has been throughout it's history too...the fewer the more likely that the owners loved their cars, you tend to keep a car that you enjoy and has few faults..

My own history file ....


I need a bigger file

Pete

I don’t think number of owners necessarily matters. For performance cars I think the opposite can be true - so long as the car has been sold through an official dealer each time it is sold it will have been prepared and checked over and possibly work done to satisfy the warranty.

Also: I would rather have 4 careful owners than one careless one!

I admit an advantage of one owner cars is that you can meet that owner and make an assessment of them.