How organised is your car's history file?

[wanderism]

How do you keep the paperwork for your classics? Old MOTs, service stamps, invoices for restoration work, the V5, and previous owners' history.

Do you keep the files digitally, loose paperwork, or a bit of both?

[markiii]

Very nice moleskin ring binders and an electronic copy for backup

[Lincsls1]

I keep all mine in date order neatly in a ring binder folder using those plastic A4 wallet things
It's currently about 3 inches thick!

[Mr Tidy]

Lincsls1 said:

I keep all mine in date order neatly in a ring binder folder using those plastic A4 wallet things

I do the same, but have them all in pdf as well.

[Turbobanana]

Old handbook pack, Italian registration documents and the odd invoice in a plastic file. Sorry if that offends the neat-freaks, but I can trace every owner from new, 1974-date. I only have scans of the legal stuff - V5 and insurance.

[Rob 131 Sport]

Lincsls1 said:

I keep all mine in date order neatly in a ring binder folder using those plastic A4 wallet things
It's currently about 3 inches thick!

+1 for my Jaguar XF including original bill of sale and brochure.

For the BMW’s and my children’s cars they are filed electronically and in plastic folders.

[V12 Migaloo]

organising the history file of my XJ would induce extreme stomach cramps and moments of anxiety that its best left scattered about in the garage, in my desk and on my PC. Every intervention ends up being about 20mm of paper......

[Castrol for a knave]

All the histories are in nice leather ring binders, with individual plastic sleeves for each invoice, piece of paperwork etc.

I keep everything, so invoices for tail lights through to suspension rebuilds.

I am such a tragedy, I actually sit down and read through, as if it's the Radio Times.....

[lukeharding]

Got a folder for each car with all the invoices for them organised by date order, though MOTs separate at the front.

[Steve-B]

I have an entire folder of receipts back to the 70s, plus original factory invoice in a folder. That also is supplimented with a ledger book of all work back to the 2nd owner in 1981 (I'm owner 5) plus a full photo album of the complete strip down and rework/respray in 1998. Also a folder in my file cabinet with copies of all invoices for last 5 years to keep them nearby.
So rather complete prominence I'd say for a 1973 car.

[vpr]

Are there companies that can put paper onto a computer file?

Suddenly dawned on me that the big history files I have are actually worth a huge amount of money to the cars.

If there was a bonfire or similar I’d be kippered

[stevewak]

vpr said:

Are there companies that can put paper onto a computer file?

https://www.custodian.club

So many have tried doing this but this seems to be active and you can get an app.

[vpr]

stevewak said:

vpr said:

Are there companies that can put paper onto a computer file?

https://www.custodian.club

So many have tried doing this but this seems to be active and you can get an app.

Many thx

[Nyloc20]

I just keep both our everyday cars info in the folders supplied by the dealer. They don’t get much thicker each year with an annual service and MoT.
We’ve owned our M100 S2 Elan for 27 years, now on 133k miles. Everything’s filed in a heavy duty four ring binder, neatly sectioned and all in date order of course. It’s a testament to the car’s reliability that the service records aren’t really bulky.

[wanderism]

V12 Migaloo said:

organising the history file of my XJ would induce extreme stomach cramps and moments of anxiety that its best left scattered about in the garage, in my desk and on my PC. Every intervention ends up being about 20mm of paper......

I feel that haha, is it the sheer volume that puts you off or just not needing to find anything?

[wanderism]

stevewak said:

So many have tried doing this but this seems to be active and you can get an app.

Have you given this a go before? Im wondering whether its worth the hassle.

[Cheib]

I’ve got a couple of ring binders for my car…one for the restoration work that was done on it before I bought it and one for its ownership history. Probably amongst the most valuable things in the house as if I lost them would definitely impact value of the car.

[wanderism]

Cheib said:

I ve got a couple of ring binders for my car one for the restoration work that was done on it before I bought it and one for its ownership history. Probably amongst the most valuable things in the house as if I lost them would definitely impact value of the car.

Do you keep a copy anywhere else? Or just rely on the physical binders?

[wanderism]

Cheib said:

I ve got a couple of ring binders for my car one for the restoration work that was done on it before I bought it and one for its ownership history. Probably amongst the most valuable things in the house as if I lost them would definitely impact value of the car.

Do you keep a copy anywhere else? Or just rely on the physical binders?

[Steve-B]

vpr said:

Are there companies that can put paper onto a computer file?

Suddenly dawned on me that the big history files I have are actually worth a huge amount of money to the cars.

If there was a bonfire or similar I d be kippered

I used an App called Scanner Pro which produces excellent images, with full-text rendering on my iPhone and I back those documents up on DropBox. I've used it on loads of NHS documents (always lost at our GP) and court docs all good!

Not sure if I'd scan in almost 50 years of the ledger or not though.