Sticking a 'dad' service history on a 2018 Mini

[DT1975]

Firstly I'm a dad. I'm not a mechanic but I've worked and serviced various family cars for 40 odd years in my cramped garage. I'm by no means an expert, simply an amateur. I've made the odd mistake like we do but have the tools for the job and nowadays Youtube.

We have three Minis in the family, all F56 Coopers, same engine 1.5.

For some reason they appear to be keepers (two daughters and the missus). Now I can happily change discs / pads front and rear, oil & filter, plugs, air filter and cabin filter plus coolant. Brake fluid I keep clear of.

Now these little beasties have an idrive with their history that I can't access. My indy can but they charge more than a Mini dealer for an oil change.

Now we've kept the missus Mini fully main dealer serviced, although I've done brakes / discs. Its low mileage and she looks after it. Its in a lovely colour and they would happily put it back on our main dealer forecourt but I guess being a 65 plate those days are rapidly running out.

Now the 2014 Mini has been within my clutches for several years and does massive motorway miles, its full history disappeared the day I took over but it now has a dad history, so far more frequent oil changes etc. Its treated by said daughter as a shed.

Regarding the 2018. Is it to early for me to stick a dad history on it ? The last service (on purchase) from a SEAT dealer didn't go on the drive. This particular daughter is not a serial changer, tends to look after her cars so I can imagine another five years of ownership.

Naturally the Dad history comes with stacks of paperwork, although I do tend to source oil filters from BMW....not much price difference and the paperwork kind of makes a dad history look decent barring nothing on the idrive.

Any thoughts ?

[ChocolateFrog]

Did the first service on my car when it was a month old.

I certainly wouldn't worry when it's out of warranty.

It seems most dealers bin the history because they think they're in contravention of GDPR anyway.

[Sir Bagalot]

Excel spreadsheet and folder for the receipts

[donkmeister]

Moving the car on in future... If you trade it in at a dealer, they usually don't give a toss (at least, not enough to give you any more money for a FMSH). If you sell it privately, anyone who umms and ahs at the lack of a FMSH is likely to be a PITA who starts a "I bought a used car 3 years ago AND NOW THE TYRES HAVE FAILED THE MOT!!1!11!! I want my money back!!!" thread.

Best car buyers are those who have done their homework about the model of car, they will take a good look at all the paperwork in your "dad history", then satisfy themselves that the work has been done properly with a good poke about, whilst looking for anything they would need to pay attention to. I've never walked away from a car because an enthusiastic driveway mechanic has been taking good care of it, but I've absolutely sprinted from a car with a FSH that was so transparently dodgy that I felt my intelligence was being insulted.

So in summary, crack on. The only people fussed by your approach would be people you wouldn't want to sell it to anyway.

[DT1975]

Cheers lads, as I thought and good to get opinions from like minded souls.

[Haltamer]

donkmeister said:

So in summary, crack on. The only people fussed by your approach would be people you wouldn't want to sell it to anyway.

This; I'd happily buy from (And sell as) someone with a magnificent war & peace stack of invoices and a demonstrable ability to do the work.

Most dealer specified intervals now are so slack I'd consider a main dealer history to be lacking - 20K Between oil changes may satisfy Ford / BMW etc, but they're not the ones picking chunks of the bottom end out of a gutter in 6 years time.

[Nath911t]

I wouldn't have a problem buying an out of manufacturers warranty car with service records, along with receipts like this. I've used main dealers in the past where I'm sure all they've done is wipe the oil filter, stamp the book and charged a lot of money.

[The spinner of plates]

Personally I prefer discussing a dad service history on the driveway with a cuppa doing a private sale than I do using a dealer saying “yup it’s all perfect” then telling me they don’t have any paperwork due to GDRP..

[Tommo87]

I always stick the receipts for service items in a/the folder that has all the cars history.

It may only prove that I bought service items, or even brake pads and discs, but its better than no proof that servicing occurs.

Of course, not everyone buying cars understands how easy an oil or spark plug change is.

[Bennet]

ChocolateFrog said:

Did the first service on my car when it was a month old.

I certainly wouldn't worry when it's out of warranty.

It seems most dealers bin the history because they think they're in contravention of GDPR anyway.

I think they bin it because they prefer to be able to deny all knowledge on cars that they know have no history, at the cost of being able to provide it on cars that do, and GDPR is a handy excuse. No more knocking money off for an overdue cam belt change or whatever.