Do I really need a service

jase1

bigjl wrote: »

Are you for real, do you really think a car is worth a 1/4 of its value due to a missing stamp in a book, especially when the unscrupulous just buy the stamp from eBay anyway.

My Mondeo has FSH till I bought it and since then I have serviced it myself, with the oil change interval reduced from Fords 12.5k to my usual 6k.

If you offered me 25% of the value because of this I would laugh and walk back inside.

No, 3/4.

If a car doesn't have a proper SH most people won't even come to view. So that 25% is deducted rather quickly by default.

You see cars all the time with missed services. The problem is that, yes, this one missed service might not be such a problem, but people don't stop there.

Try selling a car to a dealer with no recent service history, and see how far it gets you trying to get full trade-in value for it.

As it happens "all receipts" would do for me better than stamps in the book. But if you didn't have the receipts, the car would be treated the same as any unserviced vehicle -- how is the buyer supposed to know the score?

So yes, a 5 year old car, normally worth £3000 top book, would be reduced in value to between £2250-2400 with a very incomplete service record -- it reduces the car to the level of a "poor condition" vehicle. Those missed services coming back to bite.

bigjl

OK, I misunderstood what you had said, though the FSH thing doesn't make as much of a difference as you may think.

As long as the car looks as though it has been serviced fairly well it will get the same bids at an auction, a fully stamped service book is worth nothing after a car is 5 or 6 years old in my opinion.

Unless the car is a bit more specialised, such as a WRX, EVO or Porsche.

I would rather see a folder full of receipts for original spec service parts and a full set of MOT's than a book with stamps that anybody could knock up in half an hour.

For example my car has a FSH, main dealer until I bought it, since I bought it I have kept every receipt for tyres, wheel geometry alignment, all my service parts and obviously all the MOT's to back up the mileage.

I only wash the outside twice a year though!

A dealer doesn't need any excuse to try and drop the price.

But can see where you are coming from when it comes to a car that has no proof of servicing, but even cars with no history sell well at auction if the condition seems right, sometimes the history has been lost, in these cases I use other means to check the previous owners attitude to servicing, full set of recent matched decent make tyres, lack of kerb damage to the alloys are good signs, a quick check of the coolant and brake fluid also tells you a lot.

To be honest I have got some really good cars at auction when the history is missing, probably because the private buyers with their Parkers guide avoided it due to the lack of history and the only other bidders where trade, but even if a car has history I still do my little checks, such as those listed above, I don't want to buy a lemon, have done so in the past when buying at auction in a hurry, funnily enough that car had a fully stamped book:D, I don't think the ink was wet the day of the auction:rotfl:

The OP has read the discussion and said he is going to get his serviced, and for a 2008 car that is definately the best course of action. Probably won't cost more than a couple of hundred.

forgotmyname

Service? whats that?

I put some water in the washers every now and then and check the oil (black and sticky).

Poke holes in the air filter because its as black as the oil.


What puzzles me is despite my regular service why do my cars only last 2 or 3000 miles before they blow up?

johnnyroper

Johnnyy_Boy wrote: »

Have a Vauxhall Vectra SRI Diesel, Dec 2008
Bought it this time last year from a dealer with 9000 on clock. They serviced it.
Have only done 8000 miles and SP come up on the dash which advises a new service is needed. Called Vauxhall and they said you need annually irrespective of the miles done. Seems a bit excessive to me.
Any advice ? Thanks

it is not excessive modern synthetic oils are designed to operate at high temperatures,if the car does low mileage then the oil degrades over time due to condenstaion forming from the engine not getting as hot as a motorway mile muncher.

Indout96

Try selling a car to a dealer with no recent service history, and see how far it gets you trying to get full trade-in value for it.

As it happens "all receipts" would do for me better than stamps in the book.

Not really true, I sold (traded in) my Celica to a dealer, had every receipt from 7 years of ownership, they did not even want them so they were not bothered about the proof. They sold the car on in just over a week so the new owner was not bothered either.

However - to the OP - Get it serviced.

bigjl

johnnyroper wrote: »

it is not excessive modern synthetic oils are designed to operate at high temperatures,if the car does low mileage then the oil degrades over time due to condenstaion forming from the engine not getting as hot as a motorway mile muncher.

After almost 5 years experience through work with that particular engine I wouldn't skimp on oil, especially as it almost certainly has a DPF. Full synthetic, best you can afford and change it more often than the minimum suggested to keep your warranty.

Our fitters started using cheap oil (lowest spec as per manufacturer) and changing it every 6k, after the first few engine failures they reduced it to every 6-8weeks and started using the top grade oil as recommended by the manufacturer.

When fitted with a DPF this engine has a very bad habit of the diesel ending up in the sump and then the engine having camshaft wear issues, turbos going pop and in several cases the bottom end going bang in a spectacular way.

My mate was going en route to a call when the engine started to get noisy, he switched off the siren for a second then bang, two holes in the block, one forward, one backward, the vehicle had less than 15k on it, even the fitter was impressed at the amount of destruction!

They figured these issues out within six months of buying the first of them, the later 56 plates and the 57 plates that where only ever serviced with the top spec oil have not suffered any engine failures, though many early ones showed excessive wear when checked a few years later. Note that thes evehicles are on the go 24/7 and are rarely started from cold.

I used to use a 55 plate one, it hadn't done many miles on the cheap oil schedule as it had to be reshelled after an RTC, but at around 80k they stripped it down after ongoing issues with limp mode and ack of power, they found wear on the top end and the bottom end, so it had a new engine fitted, funnily enough by Saab City on the Highway, E1 as the service was getting fed up with Vauxhall dealers, one advantage of the same engine being fitted to Saabs aswell as Vauxhalls and Fiats.

Flying-High_2

Not all the Vec C 150s Diesels have a DPF.....

bigjl

I assume you meant DPF Flying-High, from what I have read on various Vauxhall forums they are very common on the Vectra, Zafira and Signum. But very few of the Astra CDTi's had them, I am sure it was only on the top of the range Astra.

Flying-High_2

bigjl wrote: »

I assume you meant DPF Flying-High, from what I have read on various Vauxhall forums they are very common on the Vectra, Zafira and Signum. But very few of the Astra CDTi's had them, I am sure it was only on the top of the range Astra.

Yes DPF not DMF...... No idea.. But not all the Vectra 150 Diesels have them.

The_Bjorn_Identity

I've always gone to independents for my servicing, or done my own, until buying a used 2008 Mondeo last year. I decided to have the 3 year service done at a Ford dealership and a couple of weeks later the steering developed a fault. Needed new steering rack and pump cost £1256.00! The dealer told me that as it was only just out of warranty Ford would pay 30% of the costs, thanks for nothing. I phoned ford UK customer care and the first thing they checked was the service history (was it all done as specified and done by Ford garages?). As it was all complete, Ford agreed to pay for the lot, no questions. Dread to think of the cost if I had scrimped on the servicing.