Service history - does it really matter?

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Mon 5 Nov 2018 19:14
Service history - does it really matter? - Trilogy.

About a month ago I saw a 2004 VW Transporter T5 1.9 Kombi for sale, with just shy of 200,000 miles covered. Last owner had been the proverbial vicar. He'd owned it several years covering over 20,000 miles or so a year. The vendor was a van dealer over 200 miles from me. There was no service history at all. On the flip side the dealer had spent over £1,000 doing various things that normally fail on these vehicles.

I've never bought without service history, yet was comforted by the work done, knowing various things that could easily go wrong had been done. Had it been closer I'd have viewed it, after all it was in excellent condition, especially when compared to some I've seen advertised.

Now the thing is, how much does service history matter?

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Mon 5 Nov 2018 19:24
Service history - does it really matter? - Jetsam1

I bought a 2005 VW Transporter with no service history!

Had a good vibe from the dealer and everything added up condition wise and the way the engine ran and it sailed through the equivalent of the MOT here. A "right" amount of KM for the age and from Holland originally so had never seen a hill! It`s troubles really began after I got it!!! 2 and a bit years later still going strong. Did the run back to the UK from Hungary with nary a hitch.

Maybe I was just lucky.......

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Mon 5 Nov 2018 22:51
Service history - does it really matter? - Trilogy.

Seems service history is unimportant when buying a used car/van. Time for everyone to go out and buy cars without any history

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Mon 5 Nov 2018 23:11
Service history - does it really matter? - Andrew-T

Eighteen months ago I bought an H-reg Pug 205 with 145K on the clock and no history whatever - originally because its seats had been refurbed and I planned to swop them into another car. The seller had bought the shell without engine, and fitted a similar engine with 100K on it which he had overhauled - so to that extent any service history would have been pretty irrelevant anyway.

When I discovered that the shell was actually in very good nick I decided to swop the seats back again and give the car a proper repaint. It now looks pretty remarkable, though I don't suppose it would fetch much at auction. I gave DVLA a fiver to find out where it had spent its life - mostly near the south coast, whence it travelled north via Herts and Lincs, before ending up in Cheshire.

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Mon 5 Nov 2018 23:31
Service history - does it really matter? - Avant

Food for thought there, Trilogy. Normally FSH is vital, but I suppose that after about 10 years what really matters is the condition it's in now: are the enigne and gearbox sound, and how worn out are the consumables?

Slightly suspicious about the particular one you mention: if a vicar was doing his job properly - vicking - he shouldn't have been doing 20,000 miles a year in a Transporter. Some of them look after scattered parishes, for sure - but not that scattered.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 07:16
Service history - does it really matter? - nellyjak

Depends on how much you trust your gut feelings...whether you have any degree of appropriate knowledge...and most importantly...how LUCKY do you feel..??

The vicar-owned T5 with 200k miles on it sounds rather fanciful to me.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 09:40
Service history - does it really matter? - skidpan

Every vehicle on the road has had some money spent on it and unless all the work has been done off the books there will be a receipt of sorts.

Every vehicle on the road over 3 years old has had MOT's and its not difficult to pop these into the document folder.

For a vehicle to have no history whatsoever makes it look mighty suspicious to me. The van is probably a clone.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 09:52
Service history - does it really matter? - RT

Every vehicle on the road has had some money spent on it and unless all the work has been done off the books there will be a receipt of sorts.

Every vehicle on the road over 3 years old has had MOT's and its not difficult to pop these into the document folder.

For a vehicle to have no history whatsoever makes it look mighty suspicious to me. The van is probably a clone.

Cars on service agreements don't get any paperwork if the service history is held electronically. All the work on my 3+ year old VW has been done under service agreement or under warranty and as it has the 5-year extended warranty that'll continue for another couple of years. I have no record of work done to show a prospective buyer. I do have an MoT but that showed no advisories so somewhat uninformative.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 09:58
Service history - does it really matter? - skidpan

Cars on service agreements don't get any paperwork if the service history is held electronically. All the work on my 3+ year old VW has been done under service agreement or under warranty and as it has the 5-year extended warranty that'll continue for another couple of years. I have no record of work done to show a prospective buyer. I do have an MoT but that showed no advisories so somewhat uninformative.

With the Seat on a service agreement I got a service book that was stamped but I cannot remember if we got any paperwork.

With the Skodas we asked the garage to provide service books which the reluctantly did. But they do provide paperwork when the cars have been for service work.

Service agreement or not you are spending money and should get documentation to show its been done.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 10:13
Service history - does it really matter? - Bromptonaut

If I'm buying an under 5yo sub 100k miles car I'd be wanting evidence of servicing, oil changes and any lifed parts like cambelt.

At 10yrs 200+k I'd be more concerned about condition and wouldn't necessarily expect a full history - though it would be a bonus if one existed.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 10:59
Service history - does it really matter? - madf

Horses for courses applies here:

any car over 100k miles and running well WILL have been serviced.

Any car under 50k miles may or may not have been serviced.

I ran away from a potential purchase of a Citroen Xantia--- full SH AND all invoices.

A quick addition showed the owner had spent over £2k in service and repair in 3 years - a money pit..

MOT history on an older car tells more than a sh.

Edited by madf on 06/11/2018 at 10:59

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 11:27
Service history - does it really matter? - Andrew-T

For a vehicle to have no history whatsoever makes it look mighty suspicious to me. The van is probably a clone.

Not sure how much profit might be made by cloning a 13-year-old van showing 200K. Maybe the condition of the rear reg.plate might indicate? And presumably if it is a recent clone the MoT history is unlikely to match the odometer reading.

Edited by Andrew-T on 06/11/2018 at 11:30

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 12:04
Service history - does it really matter? - Jetsam1

Where I live many used cars on the market are imported from Austria and Germany and I have looked and walked away from loads without any documentation apart from the import papers. Very common. They do get a total new identity upon being registered here and it is like starting afresh.

Having said that we have just agreed a purchase of a Subaru Forester with all paperwork in immaculate order so hey ho.

I would be surprised that anyone would go to the bother of messing around with a high mileage 13 year old van, but there are a lot of very strange and very dishonest people about.

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Tue 6 Nov 2018 21:38
Service history - does it really matter? - Trilogy.

Thanks for all your feedback. The search seems to be over. Will update in due course.

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