What’s classed as “full” service history?
Discussion
Almost bought a car at the weekend that had supposed full service history (just the stamps in the book with no paperwork to back it up, even an apparent cambelt change was noted). After having a good look at the car I paid a deposit and went home. Did some digging at home on the service history (from photos of V5 and book that I took) and after getting in contact with the previous owner I managed to work out the the whole service history was fake (she told me she never had service history and even showed me a BCA report stating the service history was missing). Needless to say I phoned the dealer and the deal was off.
Anyway this got me thinking what do dealers actually class as full service history? Is it literally just having the stamps in the service book? As surely having these stamps doesn’t back anything up without actual invoices of the work carried out.
I see a lot of cars even advertised with “documented” service history only to go and see them and find out that there’s still no paperwork backing up the stamps in the book!
It’s so time consuming trying to find a used car that has actual evidence of the work that’s been carried out to it, I don’t get why more people don’t keep the paperwork for their cars. Am I right to be fussy looking for a car that comes with paperwork or is it simply the norm just to rely on the stamps?
Anyway this got me thinking what do dealers actually class as full service history? Is it literally just having the stamps in the service book? As surely having these stamps doesn’t back anything up without actual invoices of the work carried out.
I see a lot of cars even advertised with “documented” service history only to go and see them and find out that there’s still no paperwork backing up the stamps in the book!
It’s so time consuming trying to find a used car that has actual evidence of the work that’s been carried out to it, I don’t get why more people don’t keep the paperwork for their cars. Am I right to be fussy looking for a car that comes with paperwork or is it simply the norm just to rely on the stamps?
Timoo said:
Almost bought a car at the weekend that had supposed full service history (just the stamps in the book with no paperwork to back it up, even an apparent cambelt change was noted). After having a good look at the car I paid a deposit and went home. Did some digging at home on the service history (from photos of V5 and book that I took) and after getting in contact with the previous owner I managed to work out the the whole service history was fake (she told me she never had service history and even showed me a BCA report stating the service history was missing). Needless to say I phoned the dealer and the deal was off.
Anyway this got me thinking what do dealers actually class as full service history? Is it literally just having the stamps in the service book? As surely having these stamps doesn’t back anything up without actual invoices of the work carried out.
I see a lot of cars even advertised with “documented” service history only to go and see them and find out that there’s still no paperwork backing up the stamps in the book!
It’s so time consuming trying to find a used car that has actual evidence of the work that’s been carried out to it, I don’t get why more people don’t keep the paperwork for their cars. Am I right to be fussy looking for a car that comes with paperwork or is it simply the norm just to rely on the stamps?
This came up on another thread yesterday, I suspect a lot of dealers don't mean "Everything has been done and I can prove it", they mean "I have all of documents for everything that has been done." Which may be a lot or maybe very little.Anyway this got me thinking what do dealers actually class as full service history? Is it literally just having the stamps in the service book? As surely having these stamps doesn’t back anything up without actual invoices of the work carried out.
I see a lot of cars even advertised with “documented” service history only to go and see them and find out that there’s still no paperwork backing up the stamps in the book!
It’s so time consuming trying to find a used car that has actual evidence of the work that’s been carried out to it, I don’t get why more people don’t keep the paperwork for their cars. Am I right to be fussy looking for a car that comes with paperwork or is it simply the norm just to rely on the stamps?
Fictitious Service History?
Some dealers throw everything but the service book in the bin, citing GDPR or something.
I think FSH is often used to mean a full history of the servicing - which is not the same as a fully stamped book.
What you really want of course is a full record of servicing above and beyond manufacturer standard, but that rarely if ever happens.
In practice I’d be happy with a fully stamped book, or detailed paperwork for the last few years. As you’ve discovered, worth asking/digging to identify what there actually is, and what it actually means.
Some dealers throw everything but the service book in the bin, citing GDPR or something.
I think FSH is often used to mean a full history of the servicing - which is not the same as a fully stamped book.
What you really want of course is a full record of servicing above and beyond manufacturer standard, but that rarely if ever happens.
In practice I’d be happy with a fully stamped book, or detailed paperwork for the last few years. As you’ve discovered, worth asking/digging to identify what there actually is, and what it actually means.
Problem is that dealers will not keep or pass on receipts nowadays because they contain the previous owners name and address which is against data protection laws. They mostly go in the bin.
It's easy to buy a blank service book on eBay and any garage with no morals could in theory stamp it all up. I'd hope that's rare though.
One way to avoid this is to buy privately where you can speak to the previous owner.
It's easy to buy a blank service book on eBay and any garage with no morals could in theory stamp it all up. I'd hope that's rare though.
One way to avoid this is to buy privately where you can speak to the previous owner.
Timoo said:
It’s so time consuming trying to find a used car that has actual evidence of the work that’s been carried out to it, I don’t get why more people don’t keep the paperwork for their cars. Am I right to be fussy looking for a car that comes with paperwork or is it simply the norm just to rely on the stamps?
Yeah, I am with you OP.I am abit of a stickler for FSH, and paperwork. Every car I have owned I always document the paperwork and receipts. Seems cars are getting more and more sparse like this, and just have random garage stamps - unless you want to ring the stamp/garage up to confirm, you have little to no evidence what a 'service' entailed, maybe people are just lazy now, they still exist, and im one of them, so whoever buys a car from me - it will have a thick pile to look through.
I think stamps in a book is an OK gauge to none at all, and I buy cars on condition anyway, mileage is irrelevant to me - just as long as the stamps kind of roughly equate to when the manufacturer recommends 'a service' etc.
End of the day, buying used car is a risk anyway - as soon as I buy a car, and done the research on it, I always get a fresh oil service and filters, gearbox oil, most fluids done again and maybe the belts in the next week after I purchase, always start a clean slate, so I know in my head anyway.
Not much help my post im afraid
Just reread your post and you say you spoke to the previous owner.
Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
We tend to keep any invoices for work done and leave them in the car, We just cut out or remove the previous owners details.
We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
ChrisH72 said:
Just reread your post and you say you spoke to the previous owner.
Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
Yeah they had it for a year and said they got it serviced twice however they didn’t have the book so there were no proof of this. Yet in this book the dealer provided me with, there were service stamps from a completely different garage on the other side of the country from the same time she owned it. Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
As the car was of fairly cheap value, I was attracted to it because of the fact it stated there was a recent cambelt change and some other work, however other then a little comment underneath one of these fake stamps, there was no proof to say that it had been done, and would have had to get it done myself straight away for peace of mind. In honest truth the car probably had been serviced and maintained correctly but I was paying for a car with full service history, when the actual car I would have been getting had absolutely none due to it being fake which would have definitely affected resale value.
Dan W. said:
We tend to keep any invoices for work done and leave them in the car, We just cut out or remove the previous owners details.
We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
Yeah that makes total sense just cutting out any private details and I don’t get why more dealers don’t just do this. We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
The one thing I can’t get my head round is the whole stamp thing. There’s literally nothing stopping anyone from buying a car with no service history, ordering a blank service book and personalised stamp from eBay, faking a few details then flogging it on as a car with full service history for a few quid more.
Timoo said:
ChrisH72 said:
Just reread your post and you say you spoke to the previous owner.
Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
Yeah they had it for a year and said they got it serviced twice however they didn’t have the book so there were no proof of this. Yet in this book the dealer provided me with, there were service stamps from a completely different garage on the other side of the country from the same time she owned it. Did they say if they had the car serviced regularly?
Depending on the age of the car a service history may not be all that relevant anyway. You could arrange an inspection to check it's okay and easily check things like oil and fluid levels, tyres, general condition and how it drives. If it's got a fresh MOT then it's most likely fine.
As the car was of fairly cheap value, I was attracted to it because of the fact it stated there was a recent cambelt change and some other work, however other then a little comment underneath one of these fake stamps, there was no proof to say that it had been done, and would have had to get it done myself straight away for peace of mind. In honest truth the car probably had been serviced and maintained correctly but I was paying for a car with full service history, when the actual car I would have been getting had absolutely none due to it being fake which would have definitely affected resale value.
Dan W. said:
We tend to keep any invoices for work done and leave them in the car, We just cut out or remove the previous owners details.
We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
Yeah that makes total sense just cutting out any private details and I don’t get why more dealers don’t just do this. We often have customers who are looking at buying a car who will ring the garage who has been stamped into the service book to *check if its genuine* no problem with that
we would class full history as being stamped and recorded in the book with a dealer stamp and info provided.
we often get a customer saying yes its full history stamped.... but all it has is mileage and work done no garage stamp or info as * my mate does it* well that gets valued as not full history and classed as no official history
The one thing I can’t get my head round is the whole stamp thing. There’s literally nothing stopping anyone from buying a car with no service history, ordering a blank service book and personalised stamp from eBay, faking a few details then flogging it on as a car with full service history for a few quid more.
Has anyone ever had the opposite? Seller tells you the car has no history, you do some digging and find out it has been serviced each and every year without fail - eg. a full service history, if you can get documentation?
My last car was advertised on Gumtree, with a few pictures and practically nothing except a short list of standard equipment. I phoned the seller asking about servicing and he told me ‘no service history’, so I left things there.
A week later it was still for sale, so I thought I’d call Volvo and check whether a main dealer had ever serviced it. They told me it had been serviced 14 times (once a year and within the servicing mileage limit), confirmed when the cambelt was changed and were happy to send me stamped service books as evidence - all for £20 (the cost of two service books and postage).
Still can’t think why someone along the way would have wanted to ditch the entire service history. Either it was sold by a dealer - in which case why did they bin everything? - or the previous owner sold it and you think they’d mention it had been serviced religiously…
My last car was advertised on Gumtree, with a few pictures and practically nothing except a short list of standard equipment. I phoned the seller asking about servicing and he told me ‘no service history’, so I left things there.
A week later it was still for sale, so I thought I’d call Volvo and check whether a main dealer had ever serviced it. They told me it had been serviced 14 times (once a year and within the servicing mileage limit), confirmed when the cambelt was changed and were happy to send me stamped service books as evidence - all for £20 (the cost of two service books and postage).
Still can’t think why someone along the way would have wanted to ditch the entire service history. Either it was sold by a dealer - in which case why did they bin everything? - or the previous owner sold it and you think they’d mention it had been serviced religiously…
RoVoFob said:
Has anyone ever had the opposite? Seller tells you the car has no history, you do some digging and find out it has been serviced each and every year without fail - eg. a full service history, if you can get documentation?
My last car was advertised on Gumtree, with a few pictures and practically nothing except a short list of standard equipment. I phoned the seller asking about servicing and he told me ‘no service history’, so I left things there.
A week later it was still for sale, so I thought I’d call Volvo and check whether a main dealer had ever serviced it. They told me it had been serviced 14 times (once a year and within the servicing mileage limit), confirmed when the cambelt was changed and were happy to send me stamped service books as evidence - all for £20 (the cost of two service books and postage).
Still can’t think why someone along the way would have wanted to ditch the entire service history. Either it was sold by a dealer - in which case why did they bin everything? - or the previous owner sold it and you think they’d mention it had been serviced religiously…
We often get skodas audi vw with no history from auctions or px, Just nip on th eRwin app on found it, just had a yeti with 7 stamps online, car come to us with nothing against it and valued with no historyMy last car was advertised on Gumtree, with a few pictures and practically nothing except a short list of standard equipment. I phoned the seller asking about servicing and he told me ‘no service history’, so I left things there.
A week later it was still for sale, so I thought I’d call Volvo and check whether a main dealer had ever serviced it. They told me it had been serviced 14 times (once a year and within the servicing mileage limit), confirmed when the cambelt was changed and were happy to send me stamped service books as evidence - all for £20 (the cost of two service books and postage).
Still can’t think why someone along the way would have wanted to ditch the entire service history. Either it was sold by a dealer - in which case why did they bin everything? - or the previous owner sold it and you think they’d mention it had been serviced religiously…
This provides an argument in favour of electronic service history that many cars have nowadays as they are much harder to forge. Unfortunately they are also much harder to access, which is a pain.
Car I bought in June came with a load of receipts, with the previous owners names, addresses and phone numbers on, a bit naughty perhaps, but good for me. I won’t contact them, as I wouldn’t want a new owner of a car I had to do the same to me. I guess some weirdos do do that though, so probably a good idea to remove them regardless of GDPR laws.
Car I bought in June came with a load of receipts, with the previous owners names, addresses and phone numbers on, a bit naughty perhaps, but good for me. I won’t contact them, as I wouldn’t want a new owner of a car I had to do the same to me. I guess some weirdos do do that though, so probably a good idea to remove them regardless of GDPR laws.
georgeyboy12345 said:
This provides an argument in favour of electronic service history that many cars have nowadays as they are much harder to forge. Unfortunately they are also much harder to access, which is a pain.
Car I bought in June came with a load of receipts, with the previous owners names, addresses and phone numbers on, a bit naughty perhaps, but good for me. I won’t contact them, as I wouldn’t want a new owner of a car I had to do the same to me. I guess some weirdos do do that though, so probably a good idea to remove them regardless of GDPR laws.
The current owner of my old BMW (which he bought from a dealer) sent me an email out of the blue, asking about a few service parts, having found my email in the service history. Didn’t bother me and was happy to help.Car I bought in June came with a load of receipts, with the previous owners names, addresses and phone numbers on, a bit naughty perhaps, but good for me. I won’t contact them, as I wouldn’t want a new owner of a car I had to do the same to me. I guess some weirdos do do that though, so probably a good idea to remove them regardless of GDPR laws.
As is always the case, though, if the wrong person gets your details and won’t leave you alone, that’s a bit different!
Agree that having an online history bank would make sense. Still open to abuse, though, if thousands of dealers from across the country could access it.
Dan W. said:
We often get skodas audi vw with no history from auctions or px, Just nip on th eRwin app on found it, just had a yeti with 7 stamps online, car come to us with nothing against it and valued with no history
Never heard of eRwin. Is this specifically for VW Group cars or broader than that?My car came with full main dealer history. There was no book but all the receipts were in the glove box. Well almost all. There was one missing but as all the services were done at the same garage I rang them to ask about the missing one. They did confirm the car had been serviced but would not provide me with the documentation as it was in the previous owners name.
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