Buy a car with no service histroy?
Just wondered as the car's gone in for some TLC (it had a minor brake down so went back to the garage I bought it from under warrenty) and I asked for a service while it was there. £180+vat! So I opted for the minimum they'd do (oil+filter, still £100) in return for stamping the logbook, with the intention of doing the other gubbins myself at some point, no planning on keeping the car long term so figured a full book of stamps on a car with ~50k miles will probably be worth it when it's time to sell it soemtime next year, but is it?
Would you buy a new(ish) car with no history beyond the sellers assertion that they'd done it themselves? I have no problem applying that to classic cars, the weather on the way home has more impact on it's reliability than whther the previous owner changed the oil, and classic owners generaly tend to spend money onthe basics in the misguided hope that it'll prevent a big bill later on. But somehow I don't think I'd buy a new car with no stamps, depsite if anything new cars being much easier to work on, with just an oil+filter every 12k, spark plugs at 50k and a cambelt at 100k, which are fairly straight foreward DIY jobs on most cars. No points to fiddle with, no mixtures to set, the MG's big end bearings even appear on the service schedule quicker than soem modern cars spark plugs!
My cars have always gone to the main dealer for servicing work as they will usually price match or have set service costs like Audi. However if it comes to repair work or upgrading suspension etc I take it elsewhere like a manufacturer specialist. I think with a new car its fairly important to take it to the dealer for the first service at the least so they can make any necessary adjustments. Also in the past they have done work free of charge because a part may have had a recall or be under warranty - you wont know this if you take it elsewhere or service it yourself.
As I buyer I would always look for a car that had a full stamped service history over one that didnt, otherwise would expect to see some receipts for work done or parts fitted. If I didnt see these I think I would walk away & look elsewhere, especially when there is so much choice at present.
upto 3 years i'd want to see dealer stamps - at least then any recall work should have been done.
Beyond that, say up to 5 years, stamps are nice, but as long as I see receipts for DIY work - oil, filters, belts, odd trip to garages etc... then I'd be happy with that.
Not seeing anything? Wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
if you do it yourself at least keep the receipts for the parts.
as above, do it yourself, note in the book what you did and keep the reciepts organised.
You'll find some people won't buy it as they won't 'trust' you to do the work yourself, but most people would probably be fine.
fwiw you can always get a 'stamped book' from ebay
Bit confused. You're capable of servicing it yourself, yet you'll pay £100 for oil and a filter? If you've done that job yourself you'd know how easy it is. The stamp in the book isn't worth much if anything.
And the original question - would I buy a car with no service history? No, because there are cars out there with part and full service historys.
For the record, I do all my servicing myself, and keep a meticulous record of receipts, dates and jobs carried out. I've never sold a car and been knocked down on service history. There are plenty of crap professionals out there - at least with owner service there is a vested interest in doing it properly.
Bit confused. You're capable of servicing it yourself, yet you'll pay £100 for oil and a filter? If you've done that job yourself you'd know how easy it is. The stamp in the book isn't worth much if anything.And the original question - would I buy a car with no service history? No, because there are cars out there with part and full service historys.
So on the one hand you wont get the garage to do it, on the other hand you wouldn't buy one that had been DIY'd?
£100 isn't that bad if you think about it. £40 for a gallon of fully synthetic 5w30, filter £10 total cost ~£50. An hours overtime at work £20, net cost of gettign someoen else to do it (and stamp the book) = £30.
The local garrage in Teesside will do an MOT and service for £60, I was tempted to get them to do it, then re-do it myself as for that price they must be using recycled chip fat for oil!
that's not all that cheap - nationwide autocenters do oil + filter for £30 on some cars, £35 on others..
thisnotaspoon, I think if you read my post it is obvious I state that owner servicing can be better than garage servicing.