vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,087
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Feb 26, 2019 16:26:43 GMT
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Depends on the kind of history, as others have said. A well documented paper or digital record detailing what was done, and when, speaks volumes. A dealer book with a handful of stamps says nothing at all.
Service history doesn't say a car is definitely good, just as a lack of it doesn't say a car is definitely bad. However, if a previous owner has gone to the trouble of keeping receipts and history, especially so if it's in order and comprehensive as in the Ferrari example above, it does give a sense that at least that owner cared enough about the car not to bodge it.
Even a car that hasn't been unreliable and therefore has a slim history folder should at least have a record of fluid changes and general maintenance undertaken. It's part of the whole picture.
The flip side is that a lot of history with car can suggest a problem car, something that's had a lot spent on it and the owner has had enough and now it's your turn to pick up the tab. Likewise, a slim history folder can be a good thing, it may well be it's a car that's well looked after and proven itself by requiring little more than regular servicing and replacement of consumables like tyres.
That said, almost every car I've bought has barely any history with it at all. These basic records are generally deemed unimportant on cars at the end of the market I float around in and when I have had history with a car it's rare that it's been of any use. I usually generate more of a history folder with a car I've bought than it ever came to me with, and the owner after me seems always to just discard what there is.
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Feb 26, 2019 16:42:22 GMT
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I enjoy reading the history, which is written with machine oil and scratches on the case, but I think, and what about the history of the cars that were on hand, in the sense of being rented, in different services, like Rental24H. That would be to learn about retro cars for rent!
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Last Edit: Feb 26, 2019 16:42:38 GMT by bonfire
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Feb 26, 2019 17:13:03 GMT
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Hi, Service history means nothing to me because I will judge the vehicle on it's condition in front of me. You can usually tell what and when things have been changed, I will go through the vehicle once home and anything it needs will get done. I do tend to keep cars for long periods and will get restored at some point, maintained regardless of cost or it will be run into the ground and disposed of. GN's point about dealers not selling without history is because it's important to the general car buying public (or punter) and is obsessed with it nearly as much as mileage. I do find adverts that say FSH and full restoration amusing because the second nullifies the first. Colin Do that with a cambelt . On a Passat, it having S/H massively helped. The fact that it was on LongLife changes helped narrow down that the camshaft on it was at fault (they really need oil changes with the right oil, do the PDs). That car on first impressions would have looked good to most, and at idle it oddly sounded absolutely fine as well.
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Last Edit: Feb 26, 2019 17:14:40 GMT by ChasR
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dreadspeed
Part of things
1972 triumph 2.5 pi on carbs
Posts: 66
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Feb 26, 2019 17:52:53 GMT
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I'm not really bothered with service history on the 60s and 70s cars i buy but do like to see reciepts for parts and body work if there is any, if I'm after a car from say 2000 for work or the missus then then il want to see service history, reciepts,mot history, plus any thing else
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Feb 26, 2019 19:12:32 GMT
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How much do you look for service history when buying a car? Do you like to see stamps and garage receipts from services and other maintenance carried out, or are you happy with just receipts for parts and the word of the seller saying they have done it... particularly if buying a ‘restored example’ My 106 rallye, has a couple of missing stamps in its service history (not all Peugeot, and in my ownership for work it’s went to a Peugeot specialist) but it’s now due another service along with timing belt, water pump etc. Obviously it works out a lot cheaper for me to do it myself, but if it would affect future value/sales I’d probably be more tempted to put it into the specialist to be done so it has again, the receipts and stamps... The car has had a full respray and barely gets driven as it’s my ‘summer car’ which I do try to keep good, so yeah, I thought I’d see what the opinions were on here... In your case, I'd do the work, but keep the paperwork and document what you've done etc. .
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Feb 26, 2019 19:28:05 GMT
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How much do you look for service history when buying a car? Do you like to see stamps and garage receipts from services and other maintenance carried out, or are you happy with just receipts for parts and the word of the seller saying they have done it... particularly if buying a ‘restored example’ My 106 rallye, has a couple of missing stamps in its service history (not all Peugeot, and in my ownership for work it’s went to a Peugeot specialist) but it’s now due another service along with timing belt, water pump etc. Obviously it works out a lot cheaper for me to do it myself, but if it would affect future value/sales I’d probably be more tempted to put it into the specialist to be done so it has again, the receipts and stamps... The car has had a full respray and barely gets driven as it’s my ‘summer car’ which I do try to keep good, so yeah, I thought I’d see what the opinions were on here... In your case, I'd do the work, but keep the paperwork and document what you've done etc. . Keep all the invoices for parts and keep a photographic record of that work. That’s worth just as much or more on a Retro or specialist vehicle.
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern
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Feb 26, 2019 19:49:24 GMT
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More interested in the vehicle, but can be a nice little bonus, especially if it contains recent service history.
For example - my work van was bought cheap off ebay, with no mention of service history, but upon collecting it, I found in the history some receipts for a timing belt kit being fitted 10000 miles earlier.
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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Feb 26, 2019 20:01:19 GMT
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Absolutely nothing at all.
The few cars ive bought with it ive kept it safe for selling on, but wouldnt have altered the sale /purchase...
As for me, ive always done my own work, and keep it documented, keep receipts and milage etc, no one realy cares, only time anyone did was a suit coming to view a 600quid corsa and wondered why i had just serviced it myself. Thought it should have gone to vaux.. i said for what vaux wanted the car would have been much more money..... he didnt seem to get it. Needless to say it went to the next viewer who was very happy with it.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Feb 26, 2019 20:15:41 GMT
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Whth the cars I've sold in the past, on a few, the paperwork and details I've kept have really pleased some buyers. With my 944 Turbo It helped massively. i bought that without history I admit, but I did buy it from a mate who is also a very reputable Porsche specialist. My Mondeo V6 came with zero paperwork and to be fair it's one of the best cars I've owned. That was one of those cars where you knew it was a 'good' car. It's one of the few times I've paid the full asking price for the car and TBH it was worth every penny . History can be forged I admit, but that's where common sense and cynicism can come into play .
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Paul
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,907
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Feb 26, 2019 20:40:00 GMT
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Most of the cars I buy come with little to no history, but that's testament to the markets I tend to buy from ie. Banger money. Pays your money, takes your chance. Invariably they get a good going over, filters & fluids when I buy them anyway.
Most modern car services are little more than an oil filter change and a tyre kick anyways so, like many have said, I'm interested in a nice fat stack of receipts if I'm spending a bit more money.
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Feb 26, 2019 22:26:18 GMT
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my land rover came with an old A5 sized note book started in 1984 by the second owner, every time a service or MOT happened it was written down, or any work, new carb in 1998, wiper blades, whatever. amazingly each subsequent owner carried it on and the book made it right through the decades to me!
i don't rate "service history" as in the rubber stamp from dutton forshaw ayelsbury at 36k miles saying it had oil and filter, simply because 30 years later it means naff all, and that kind of thing is for newish cars and depreciation junkies, not classic cars.
the anecdotal or more social history side i love
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Last Edit: Feb 26, 2019 22:31:30 GMT by darrenh
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keyring
Part of things
Posts: 913
Club RR Member Number: 47
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Feb 26, 2019 22:39:02 GMT
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Mind is fully made up now I knew I’d get a good answer on here, thank you all
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,194
Club RR Member Number: 170
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If it were a Clio 172, a bit of paper from a known specialist would be nicer I admit, but they are awkward to do, but then the Alfa Twin Sparks and V6s make them look like a walk in the park.
Yours is fairly simple from memory.
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I've never had much history with my Firenza, from the period prior to my ownership. It doesn't seem to have been all that active in club events either. So I was particularly pleased when a previous owner's brother turned up at a show, then got in contact later to tell me he'd found the original owners handbook, service book (with three stamps) and a few others bits and pieces. As he hadn't owned the car since 1983, it was remarkable, and really nice to be able to keep with the car. On the one hand it should have gone on with the car, but on the other, the interim owners might just have got rid of it as they had done with the original interior. I'd wondered about whether to get rid of the Webasto roof somehow, but now I know that it was fitted six weeks after the car was first registered as I have the receipt for it, that's as close to a "factory option" as it can be.
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village
Part of things
Always carries a toolbox. Because Volkswagen.......
Posts: 567
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Feb 27, 2019 10:30:17 GMT
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it means nothing to me, oooooo, Vienna
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"The White Van is strong with this one...."
Chris "Chesney" Allen 1976-2005 RIP
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Feb 27, 2019 15:33:46 GMT
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it means nothing to me, oooooo, Vienna There’s no need to make a song and dance about it...
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Fraud owners club member 1999 Jaguar s type 1993 ford escort
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Feb 27, 2019 18:14:42 GMT
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I think it really depends on whether you're buying an older car privately from an enthusiast or "Bob from the pub". The enthusiast may have a touch of OCD and documents everything (I've got all my receipts for the work done on my daily Bora for example) whereas Bob will tell you that he changed the oil but has no idea what type he used. Given the engine uses a specific oil, I know which I'd rather buy.
I had FSH (ex-fleet car) when I bought the Bora, and I have created a folder full of receipts since I bought it in 2009. Someone will doubtless find it very useful, and it may make me an extra £50 when I sell it. My old 1996 Golf GTi had EVERYTHING bar a couple of services in its history, including the bits where it was owned by an Ipswich Footballer, not that it made any difference to me. Still, it was good to know that it had been looked after.
I check the history to make sure of regular oil changes and big jobs such as cambelts. You have to remember that in most cases you don't know the buyer, and a bit of regular documentation can put your mind at rest a bit more. Service history is not essential, but it helps.
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p1erce
Part of things
Posts: 50
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Feb 28, 2019 15:38:21 GMT
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Depends what car it is....
For example:
If its an e36 m3, I'm gonna want an impeccable service history, including oil service, inspection 1, inspection 2 all performed when due by the dealer or specialist.
If its an e30 325i, couldn't care less.
I think the older a car gets the less important service history is, as its the sheet metal that matters most. On these "modern classic" "investment type" cars, I feel its pretty important.
Older engines are generally more over engineered due to the lack of computing power and can survive a bit of neglect, these more modern engines need servicing exactly on schedule.
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Feb 28, 2019 17:19:00 GMT
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Not a thing! having worked in the car auctions for years, I know how easy it is to make up a mickey history,for just about any make, some exceptions and it is now getting harder to do,but its still doable
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Service history means very little to me, its nice to see main dealer stamps in a book, and goes someway to proving that the work was done properly. However when i bought my golf gti i was swayed by the fact that the owner had kept a wad of reciepts and bills for work carried out and parts replaced. Trouble was the garage who did the work were basically a bunch of scamming numpties.They 'fitted' new plugs and leads , they broke a lead, one wasnt fitted right and two plugs were lose. They charged the owner for genuine parts and fitted spurious curse word.Bolts had (if they were still there) been left lose, wrong fittings had been used. Basically this car p*ssed me off for two years as i kept finding and having to redo work supposedly carried out before.
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