Merit of invoices / receipts
Discussion
Most sane people would agree that a service history is a Good Thing, and bar extreme shedding, would be a draw when choosing a car.
How do people feel about invoices for work, or absence thereof?
I’ve always religiously kept all invoices during my ownership history, from everything from the Bentley to the shed volvo; just seems my responsibility to do so. But how seriously do you view the presence of a big folder of bills?
Guessing some cars have a neatly ring bound folder in chronological order, and others are just stuffed in the glove box. Do they add “value” to the car, or just provide a marginal “nice to have” that would help choose between two otherwise identical vehicles?
“Buy on condition” notwithstanding, of course.
I can come up with a reasonably formulaic answer myself, but just interested in what public opinion thought.
How do people feel about invoices for work, or absence thereof?
I’ve always religiously kept all invoices during my ownership history, from everything from the Bentley to the shed volvo; just seems my responsibility to do so. But how seriously do you view the presence of a big folder of bills?
Guessing some cars have a neatly ring bound folder in chronological order, and others are just stuffed in the glove box. Do they add “value” to the car, or just provide a marginal “nice to have” that would help choose between two otherwise identical vehicles?
“Buy on condition” notwithstanding, of course.
I can come up with a reasonably formulaic answer myself, but just interested in what public opinion thought.
Depends what the car is.
Something older, high performance, more expensive I’d pay a bit more for a bulging folder of invoices detailing work done over the years.
Something newer or run of the mill, as long as the stamps are verifiable, not bothered.
Old cheapies then the documentation would sway me towards buying one car over another as long as the condition is right. It also depends what the documentation proves - I’ve just bought a golf GTi at a slight premium but it has a documented DSG box rebuild and suspension refresh so to me that’s actually a bargain.
Something older, high performance, more expensive I’d pay a bit more for a bulging folder of invoices detailing work done over the years.
Something newer or run of the mill, as long as the stamps are verifiable, not bothered.
Old cheapies then the documentation would sway me towards buying one car over another as long as the condition is right. It also depends what the documentation proves - I’ve just bought a golf GTi at a slight premium but it has a documented DSG box rebuild and suspension refresh so to me that’s actually a bargain.
Invoices for work from a reputable garage have a value to me.
Invoices for random parts from ECP, Halfords and the like are just a nice to have. In my experience most damage arises from enthusiastic amateurs doing DIY badly, and of course the presence or absence of parts invoices tells you nothing about how well the parts were fitted.
Invoices for random parts from ECP, Halfords and the like are just a nice to have. In my experience most damage arises from enthusiastic amateurs doing DIY badly, and of course the presence or absence of parts invoices tells you nothing about how well the parts were fitted.
Quoting GDPR as a reason for dealers not to pass on servicing/repair invoices is a nonsense. They could simply cut out the owner's name & address.
When I traded in my last car I gave the dealer all the relevant invoices with details already removed. As I got into my 'new' car I saw the salesman dump into his waste bin all the records I had supplied.
When I traded in my last car I gave the dealer all the relevant invoices with details already removed. As I got into my 'new' car I saw the salesman dump into his waste bin all the records I had supplied.
I find on a run of the mill car it actually means very little. A couple of years ago I bought a Honda Civic shed from eBay and it had every single bill from new. Every year it would be serviced and MOT'd at a Honda main dealer, every time it needed new brakes or any other work it would be done at a main dealer. I estimate there was something like £4K worth of invoices for that car.
It drove like absolute crap, horrible harsh knocking suspension, noisy starter motor and the £500 of new front calipers fitted there years previously were already sticking again.
I hated it, I went back to my Renault Megane that had the usual first couple of services at a main dealer than stamps at random back street garages and then me servicing it with parts from eBay.
Obviously when I sold the Civic on after two months I carefully laid out all the invoices on the table and photographed them all.
It drove like absolute crap, horrible harsh knocking suspension, noisy starter motor and the £500 of new front calipers fitted there years previously were already sticking again.
I hated it, I went back to my Renault Megane that had the usual first couple of services at a main dealer than stamps at random back street garages and then me servicing it with parts from eBay.
Obviously when I sold the Civic on after two months I carefully laid out all the invoices on the table and photographed them all.
Yeah, I'd argue it means less than what people make of it too. It doesn't guarantee you are getting a good car by any means.
A few years ago I traded in my old 96,000 mile Alfa 147 diesel. I had owned it for over 5 years and had a ton of paperwork with it, including oil, filter and fuel filter changes every 12,000 miles or less, EGR replacement at 40,000 miles, cambelt change at 50,000 miles, clutch and DMF change at 70,000 miles, the front suspension was essentially rebuilt twice during my ownership, new brake, discs and pads at 80,000 miles, two brake fluid changes, etc.
I traded it in because I knew it needed a new sump, handbrake cable, the front exhaust flexi was leaking, it needed two new front wheel bearings, the front suspension was knocking and the clutch and DMF was on its way out AGAIN!
So even with all that documentation, the car still needed a load spending on it to get it up to standard.
A few years ago I traded in my old 96,000 mile Alfa 147 diesel. I had owned it for over 5 years and had a ton of paperwork with it, including oil, filter and fuel filter changes every 12,000 miles or less, EGR replacement at 40,000 miles, cambelt change at 50,000 miles, clutch and DMF change at 70,000 miles, the front suspension was essentially rebuilt twice during my ownership, new brake, discs and pads at 80,000 miles, two brake fluid changes, etc.
I traded it in because I knew it needed a new sump, handbrake cable, the front exhaust flexi was leaking, it needed two new front wheel bearings, the front suspension was knocking and the clutch and DMF was on its way out AGAIN!
So even with all that documentation, the car still needed a load spending on it to get it up to standard.
Joey Deacon said:
I find on a run of the mill car it actually means very little. A couple of years ago I bought a Honda Civic shed from eBay and it had every single bill from new. Every year it would be serviced and MOT'd at a Honda main dealer, every time it needed new brakes or any other work it would be done at a main dealer. I estimate there was something like £4K worth of invoices for that car.
It drove like absolute crap, horrible harsh knocking suspension, noisy starter motor and the £500 of new front calipers fitted there years previously were already sticking again.
I hated it, I went back to my Renault Megane that had the usual first couple of services at a main dealer than stamps at random back street garages and then me servicing it with parts from eBay.
Obviously when I sold the Civic on after two months I carefully laid out all the invoices on the table and photographed them all.
It drove like absolute crap, horrible harsh knocking suspension, noisy starter motor and the £500 of new front calipers fitted there years previously were already sticking again.
I hated it, I went back to my Renault Megane that had the usual first couple of services at a main dealer than stamps at random back street garages and then me servicing it with parts from eBay.
Obviously when I sold the Civic on after two months I carefully laid out all the invoices on the table and photographed them all.
Did you position them in an arc like a rainbow?SlowV6 said:
Did you position them in an arc like a rainbow?I then handed over a Honda cardboard folder to the new owner with all the invoices inside in chronological order, starting with the purchase invoice.
It is funny that the first thing he said was "You never see that" as I handed over the folder, so clearly it is very important to some people.
It gives me a nice nudge to viewing/buying, at least you can see some effort to look after it, trace the cambelt stamp to an actual invoice and it gives confidence it did get done when the stamp said. A stamp, a few different biro's and handwriting and you soon have a fully stamped service book, creating fake invoices isn't going to happen.
It's nice to see old buyers info, one of my cars has emails between the 2/3 buyer and the BMW sales guy, then a BMW dealer visit print (pre GDPR days) where that buyer obviously wanted some proof of servicing/dealer visits. I know most owners do some due diligence on every purchase but it was just nice to see it 7-8 years later......it's a slight comfort blanket to me?
You can't knock it if it then needs further work can you? That often comes down to the car itself (know issues, or just being french etc etc) and use/abuse it might have had or just plain wear cycle, not many people replace stuff that might go wrong soon do they!?
It's nice to see old buyers info, one of my cars has emails between the 2/3 buyer and the BMW sales guy, then a BMW dealer visit print (pre GDPR days) where that buyer obviously wanted some proof of servicing/dealer visits. I know most owners do some due diligence on every purchase but it was just nice to see it 7-8 years later......it's a slight comfort blanket to me?
You can't knock it if it then needs further work can you? That often comes down to the car itself (know issues, or just being french etc etc) and use/abuse it might have had or just plain wear cycle, not many people replace stuff that might go wrong soon do they!?
Joey Deacon said:
SlowV6 said:
Did you position them in an arc like a rainbow?I then handed over a Honda cardboard folder to the new owner with all the invoices inside in chronological order, starting with the purchase invoice.
It is funny that the first thing he said was "You never see that" as I handed over the folder, so clearly it is very important to some people.
Powerfully Built Company Director said:
Most sane people would agree that a service history is a Good Thing, and bar extreme shedding, would be a draw when choosing a car.
How do people feel about invoices for work, or absence thereof?
I’ve always religiously kept all invoices during my ownership history, from everything from the Bentley to the shed volvo; just seems my responsibility to do so. But how seriously do you view the presence of a big folder of bills?
Guessing some cars have a neatly ring bound folder in chronological order, and others are just stuffed in the glove box. Do they add “value” to the car, or just provide a marginal “nice to have” that would help choose between two otherwise identical vehicles?
“Buy on condition” notwithstanding, of course.
I can come up with a reasonably formulaic answer myself, but just interested in what public opinion thought.
Yes you buy on condition but I work on the basis that if there aren't any receipts then I can only assume the work hasn't been carried out.How do people feel about invoices for work, or absence thereof?
I’ve always religiously kept all invoices during my ownership history, from everything from the Bentley to the shed volvo; just seems my responsibility to do so. But how seriously do you view the presence of a big folder of bills?
Guessing some cars have a neatly ring bound folder in chronological order, and others are just stuffed in the glove box. Do they add “value” to the car, or just provide a marginal “nice to have” that would help choose between two otherwise identical vehicles?
“Buy on condition” notwithstanding, of course.
I can come up with a reasonably formulaic answer myself, but just interested in what public opinion thought.
I recently sold a car for spares/repairs as it wouldn't start and had various other issues. It was possibly only good for the scrap heap but the buyer was hoping to get it running again. He was very keen to have all the paperwork, invoices etc. He even phoned the garage I used to check the history, and asked me to get copies of any invoices that I couldn't find when I was collating the paperwork. Obviously having all the paperwork was all part of the process for him, but it surprised me that he was that bothered when buying a 150000 mile shed on its very last legs!
addey said:
I recently sold a car for spares/repairs as it wouldn't start and had various other issues. It was possibly only good for the scrap heap but the buyer was hoping to get it running again. He was very keen to have all the paperwork, invoices etc. He even phoned the garage I used to check the history, and asked me to get copies of any invoices that I couldn't find when I was collating the paperwork. Obviously having all the paperwork was all part of the process for him, but it surprised me that he was that bothered when buying a 150000 mile shed on its very last legs!
Interesting. I sold a 156k-mile 2004 car a month back and had loads of paperwork amounting to about £9,000 if I remember rightly. If I hadn’t handed it to the buyer with the V5 I don’t think he’d have even asked for it. I did have a pic of all the history on the ad, though, so maybe it helped…Had to ask the guy I bought my replacement car from - a 2006 with 88k mikes on it - for the docs when I collected it. He was going to lob them all in the bin.
Pica-Pica said:
I am the same, especially when I sold our house. I had wiring layouts, the paint colours and brand for each wall, the original plans for the extension, etc., etc., ad nauseam. It just seems the right thing to do in my mind.
Please let me know when you’re next selling your house…or car! 
RoVoFob said:
Pica-Pica said:
I am the same, especially when I sold our house. I had wiring layouts, the paint colours and brand for each wall, the original plans for the extension, etc., etc., ad nauseam. It just seems the right thing to do in my mind.
Please let me know when you’re next selling your house…or car! I feel houses should have a homebuyer’s pack, but even better than the Scottish ones, with drain plans, wiring diagrams etc. As for house surveys, money for old rope.
Pica-Pica said:
Not yet!
I feel houses should have a homebuyer’s pack, but even better than the Scottish ones, with drain plans, wiring diagrams etc. As for house surveys, money for old rope.
Yes, absolutely. It should be the seller’s responsibility to do more to prove the condition/value of their house. It’s in their interests and they only need to do it once, rather than potential buyers having to get surveys on numerous houses that may or may not have issues…I feel houses should have a homebuyer’s pack, but even better than the Scottish ones, with drain plans, wiring diagrams etc. As for house surveys, money for old rope.
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