What is dealer service stamp worth?

Bob63

I am about to sign on the dotted line to buy a two year old, very nice, very low mileage VW from an independent dealer. It needs a two year service which costs £170 at main dealer. Seller is happy to do the service using VW parts and to VW spec at the agreed price, or he will knock £100 off agreed price if I pay for the proper VW service.

So the question is this: Is the VW dealer service stamp worth £70? Will it have any effect on resale value if I come to sell the car at 5 years old?

regards,

Mike

Altarf

No in normal circumstances, and in the current circumstances, absolutely not.

h901

buyers tend to prefer a full service history from the dealer and therefore pay more for the car

but the more that people pay for it with a service history and without is not that much

Altarf

Maybe on a 2 or 3 year old car, or on something specialist, but on a 5 year old VW, especially with the current freefall on used car prices, the difference will be zero.

h901

Altarf wrote: »

Maybe on a 2 or 3 year old car, or on something specialist, but on a 5 year old VW, especially with the current freefall on used car prices, the difference will be zero.

that is true
when the car is 5 years old
the difference will be near enough zero

hewhoisnotintheknow

buyers like a dealers service stamp, but i dont understand this as in my experiance dealers have been awful

I would prefer to see a specialist stamp along with the overall condition of the car + the attitude of the owner

also if you plan to keep the car for any length of time the whole service stamp will be irrelevant by then, again the overall condition is much more important

DCFC79

FInd a local garage which would service it for you

Conor_3

Altarf wrote: »

No in normal circumstances, and in the current circumstances, absolutely not.

Depends on how easy you want to sell it. With the massive choice of cars that are out there with fully stamped up main dealer history, there's no need to buy one that hasn't and you can use it to seriously haggle down the price if they don't.

pianeet

to be honest in my opinion the dealer stamp or any other stamp means nothing ( you can make a service stamp for a couple of pound) unless a car has a documented service history you can take it with a pinch of salt

Bob63

Thanks to everyone who replied. It looks like the consensus is that it isn't worth paying the extra £70 for a dealer service now if and when I come to sell the car in three years time. I'll get the independent dealer to do the service instead.