Fake Service History - How common is this
Discussion
Ive been in the market to buy a used Subaru BRZ, ive had money down on one recently on the condition that service history was provided as it wasnt available to hand. Apparently theyre stored digitally.
I waited a few days to receive these, only to find a document that had clearly been doctored with spelling mistakes and no invoices etc. I even called the dealerships that supposedly carried these out only to find theyd never seen the car unsurprisingly. This was for a car for sale on this platform of all places.
Thankfully the document was so obviously manufactured that it was quite easy to spot. Almost hilariously so.
Is this commonplace now and something to look out for? Im looking in the regions of £11-13k so isnt the bottom of the barrel of the used market. At around this amount is a full service history much of an ask!?
I waited a few days to receive these, only to find a document that had clearly been doctored with spelling mistakes and no invoices etc. I even called the dealerships that supposedly carried these out only to find theyd never seen the car unsurprisingly. This was for a car for sale on this platform of all places.
Thankfully the document was so obviously manufactured that it was quite easy to spot. Almost hilariously so.
Is this commonplace now and something to look out for? Im looking in the regions of £11-13k so isnt the bottom of the barrel of the used market. At around this amount is a full service history much of an ask!?
E82_125i said:
Ive been in the market to buy a used Subaru BRZ, ive had money down on one recently on the condition that service history was provided as it wasnt available to hand. Apparently theyre stored digitally.
I waited a few days to receive these, only to find a document that had clearly been doctored with spelling mistakes and no invoices etc. I even called the dealerships that supposedly carried these out only to find theyd never seen the car unsurprisingly. This was for a car for sale on this platform of all places.
Thankfully the document was so obviously manufactured that it was quite easy to spot. Almost hilariously so.
Is this commonplace now and something to look out for? Im looking in the regions of £11-13k so isnt the bottom of the barrel of the used market. At around this amount is a full service history much of an ask!?
No, it’s not much of an ask. Two of my cars (a 2012 Alfa Mito used by my daughter and owned by us since it was 3 and a 2011 Jaguar XF 3.0 used by me as a 2nd car) have day 1 extremely thick history files. Quentin Wilson was said something on the lines of rough people and rough cars go together. I waited a few days to receive these, only to find a document that had clearly been doctored with spelling mistakes and no invoices etc. I even called the dealerships that supposedly carried these out only to find theyd never seen the car unsurprisingly. This was for a car for sale on this platform of all places.
Thankfully the document was so obviously manufactured that it was quite easy to spot. Almost hilariously so.
Is this commonplace now and something to look out for? Im looking in the regions of £11-13k so isnt the bottom of the barrel of the used market. At around this amount is a full service history much of an ask!?
A car should always have a proper history.
Yeah, really easy to fake it. But also easy to suss out, calling dealers to check takes a few minutes - if they're not helpful then plenty more cars for sale. I don't know about anyone else but I try to build an overall picture of a car before making a buying decision, service/MOT history but also how I feel about the seller and their credentials, can I find anything on line about the car prior to the point of sale etc.
Not bought a shonky one since I was a naive teenager.
Not bought a shonky one since I was a naive teenager.
Alorotom said:
Quite common I would say - esp with the proliferation of dealer stamps being available on eBay for pennies!
This is a big culprit. I do my own service work on two cars I own and my daughters. All over 12 years old . So I have a record I keep receipts and stamp the book with a stamp I bought off eBay. I used a site where you could design your own. Mine just says Home service and a mileage and date space . The site had templates where you could easily choose ready made designs that represent main dealer stamps . It was about £7.As an aside I have a near 20 year old Jag with 8 years of stamps from a main Jag dealer. When I called the Jag dealer I discovered they had ceased trading two years into the 8 years .
Im gonna get flamed for this...But it was a long time ago and I've felt bad ever since....
I had an e46 M3 - bought from the original owner. About 10 years ago. It was a 2002 model with 10k miles on it.
I hadn't heard of the importance of the running in service and this one had missed it. Despite it beong serviced regularly at BMW nobody would touch it when I was trying to sell it. In many cases it was the first quesiton people asked.
So, I had a stamp made up and stamped the book and traded it in
I've seen it on owners forums since with a lot more miles on and still going strong.
I had an e46 M3 - bought from the original owner. About 10 years ago. It was a 2002 model with 10k miles on it.
I hadn't heard of the importance of the running in service and this one had missed it. Despite it beong serviced regularly at BMW nobody would touch it when I was trying to sell it. In many cases it was the first quesiton people asked.
So, I had a stamp made up and stamped the book and traded it in
I've seen it on owners forums since with a lot more miles on and still going strong.
Yes, common. My son and wife went to view three cars yesterday - two of them were clearly making up service history or so laughably poor (handwritten 'Service - £120' on a generic garage 'headed paper', or a Timing Belt receipt with everything redacted because 'GDPR' including what car it was...)...
Service history is the bare minimum given the length of service intervals on modern cars, I'd be concerned if a car just had 4 oil changes in 70,000 miles. There are some seriously unethical car dealers in the UK. I helped my mother buy a car about 10 years ago and could not believe how dishonest they were.
If it's digital, it should be reported to sites like carfax where you can see all the service records.
If it's digital, it should be reported to sites like carfax where you can see all the service records.
Definitely more common than it should be.
A few years ago I drove a fair distance to see an Infiniti FX that I was considering buying.
Despite being advertised with full history, when I got there, the book had one stamp (should have had at least 5) needless to say I passed on the car.
You can imagine my surprise when less than a fortnight later the same car was on AT for more money with a mysteriously completely stamped service book!
A few years ago I drove a fair distance to see an Infiniti FX that I was considering buying.
Despite being advertised with full history, when I got there, the book had one stamp (should have had at least 5) needless to say I passed on the car.
You can imagine my surprise when less than a fortnight later the same car was on AT for more money with a mysteriously completely stamped service book!
Surprisingly common then! Surely doing so is fraudulent? Especially if its blatant and something is advertised as FSH.
Terrible as a lot of people must fall for these tactics. However i sense that a lot of people who buy cars now actually dont give a toss as long as the car looks like its cared for?
When looking for my current car i remember driving a fair distance to look at one that the dealer said had full history, only to arrive and find it had just its mot invoice and the V5 logbook. Fortunately there were other things that put me off a car but its so dishonest especially when buyers are travelling far.
Annoyingly im looking at what is already a not-so-common car so it makes finding one extra difficult if service history is a must.
Terrible as a lot of people must fall for these tactics. However i sense that a lot of people who buy cars now actually dont give a toss as long as the car looks like its cared for?
When looking for my current car i remember driving a fair distance to look at one that the dealer said had full history, only to arrive and find it had just its mot invoice and the V5 logbook. Fortunately there were other things that put me off a car but its so dishonest especially when buyers are travelling far.
Annoyingly im looking at what is already a not-so-common car so it makes finding one extra difficult if service history is a must.
On the other hand I bought a BMW with verified full main dealer history, the wheels were guned on so tight they had damaged some hubs and wheels. Oil and cabin filters were 6 years old (age of car). Brake fluid was full of crap and the rear calipers were seized.
I was still happy as the car was the rare spec I wanted but the previous owner was definitely ripped off.
I was still happy as the car was the rare spec I wanted but the previous owner was definitely ripped off.
that's where the digital versions help. They are recorded by VIN / reg.
I have a 2006 Mazda and they had already gone to digital by then (Mercedes did it in 2009, I believe), no stamped book. A quick call to a Mazda dealer confirmed the print out was accurate. Even other garages can update it if they register to use the system. I have invoices / receipts for the services done at non-franchised places.
I have a 2006 Mazda and they had already gone to digital by then (Mercedes did it in 2009, I believe), no stamped book. A quick call to a Mazda dealer confirmed the print out was accurate. Even other garages can update it if they register to use the system. I have invoices / receipts for the services done at non-franchised places.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff