Maserati service history question

Maserati service history question

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aspender

Original Poster:

1,306 posts

265 months

Wednesday 3rd June 2020
quotequote all
Hi all

I’m in the market for a 2nd hand Ghibli, and popped over to look at one fairly local to me today. In terms of paperwork all it had was the V5, a receipt for a vehicle health check from a Maserati dealer in October, MOT done at the same time, and a printout of some sort.

The service booklet had no stamps in it. When I queried this apparent lack of history the dealer (not Maser) asked me what I was talking about and pointed to the printout. On closer inspection this showed lines with dates that appeared to have mileages approximating the right service intervals but little to no other detail. I had no idea if it was genuine or not.

He said the history is all digital, all with Maserati, with added condescending ‘you wouldn’t take a car like this to a Vauxhall garage’ thrown in.

I’m walking away from this one for various reasons (including the attitude on show). For a car like this with over 30k on the clock in 3 years I’d hope to see actual service receipts detailing anything done, costs etc.

So, my question to help the rest of my search is: is the printout likely genuine, if so is it possible to get more details of work completed from Maserati? Are service books without stamps as ‘it’s all digital’ true? Or should I simply walk away from anything that doesn’t have a folder of detailed history accompanying it?

Chris722

42 posts

137 months

Wednesday 3rd June 2020
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Yes this seems to be the case with newer cars. Most of my cars are pre digital so you rely on paperwork whereas my 5 series it is the same as you describe all electronic, although like you I would always want to see what was actually changed and spent etc. It is probably just as easy (or easier) to forge some paperwork than it is to change a record digitally but I guess that because I am used to seeing a physical copy when they say it is all electronic my natural reaction is someone is trying to pull a fast one! I have no idea if you can see if it is a main dealer that has carried out the work or some other garage.

Daveb257

997 posts

139 months

Thursday 4th June 2020
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Short answer is no, each dealer may have its own records but there is no digital central database or shared information on service history, It’ll all be in the book (or not as the case may be)
If it looks wrong be very careful, there are more than a few cars with very patchy history about