"Full Service History" -- how strict would your definition be?

jase1

Ford Focus, 2007, 1.6 petrol.

I'm usually pretty good with servicing, keeping all receipts down to tyres/wipers etc and often over-servicing cars.

This particular one had an immaculate history up to when I bought it, and I serviced it at 70k after the last one at 62k. The interval is 12.5k.

It was serviced again at 80k when I had the cambelt done, but due to various circumstances I didn't get around to doing it again until 95k, which is a lot longer than I would have liked.

Personally, I wouldn't like to see this on a car I was buying, but is it something that generally people would even notice when looking a car over?

Notmyrealname

I'd think it was near enough not to bother, especially with the previous intervals. Make sure you have the proof of the cambelt change when you go to sell.

Premier_2

jase1 wrote: »

Ford Focus, 2007, 1.6 petrol.

I'm usually pretty good with servicing, keeping all receipts down to tyres/wipers etc and often over-servicing cars.

This particular one had an immaculate history up to when I bought it, and I serviced it at 70k after the last one at 62k. The interval is 12.5k.

It was serviced again at 80k when I had the cambelt done, but due to various circumstances I didn't get around to doing it again until 95k, which is a lot longer than I would have liked.

Personally, I wouldn't like to see this on a car I was buying, but is it something that generally people would even notice when looking a car over?

It really depends on the buyer.

Some prefer to see a book full of main dealer stamps and that's it. Others hate to see main dealer stamps. A huge pile of receipts from an obvious caring owner may be preferable to them
The main issue you have is your claim to have serviced it yourself at 62.5k.
(Presumably as this was 12 months after the previous service?)
If you are a qualified motor mechanic and have all the appropriate receipts then the buyer may well accept that.

No one is going to worry over the fact car with almost 100K on the clock missed it's 92.5k service by 2.5k (assuming you are close to the other 12m criteria)

harveybobbles

MY neighbour had an Audi A4. 2 years old, 59,000 miles. One service done. This is classed as full service hisorty, as his car is on the variable intervals which means it can go upto 30,000 between servicing. So it's due its 2nd one soon.

agrinnall

I'm not sure whether Premier's interpretation of your post is right, mine would be that it had been serviced at 62K before you bought it, and you then had it serviced (not did the service yourself) at 70K, 80K and 95K. If that is correct then I'd be surprised if anyone would be worried by that, and if they are they will probably be the sort of nit picker who will be on the phone to you the second anything goes wrong.

TrickyWicky

I don't worry about service history. We've bought two cars with FSH, one turned out to be a rustbucket, the other one ended up coming with little service history - just the service book with a few stamps and absolutely no receipts. The worst thing is I was offered the same make and model of car on someones drive for just £200 (he'd had it sitting there for a long time and just wanted the 'space' on his huge drive. He had every single receipt from new and I had to let it go.. Pretty gutted as it was immaculately kept and for the price I could honestly never find a better specimen.

That said, the car we bought with just the stamps turned out ok, never let me down etc until I tinkered with it - then hell broke loose.

Bought another few with no history too and they've been the most reliable we've had. I bought the last one a couple of years ago and despite the last owner openly telling me "it's had a hard life - I bought it in very bad condition and still haven't serviced it" it's gone on for another 1.5 years before giving me any greif and all I got was one key, V5 and the MOT! Solid as a rock and spent just £20 quid on a puncture repair. Granted it became a bit ill recently but I've fixed that and it's still chugging away.

I think a lot of it is to do with how much DIY maintenance the next owner is willing to undertake. If you're not fussed about DIY then it doesn't really matter. If on the other hand you're someone who likes to put it into the garage and get everything done then service history is probably quite an important choice as to what you buy.

Jamie1981

You would need to state the dates the services were carried out as well when considering full service history for a focus as they are not on variable intervals. My car that I have now was advertised as full main dealer service history and was 7 years old with 59k. It had 7 stamps in the book when I bought it as it had just been serviced but although the car was serviced well before it's 12.5k service interval on most occasions there is a gap of 15 months, 13k between services on one occasion. This did not bother me at all as the main dealer printed out the service record so I could see what it had at each service.

On your car if I was looking it over I would like to see between 7 and 8 stamps in the book. Most people I know check the service book then give the car a thorough test drive and a good look over. I have been to buy a car that was 6 years old with 52k on the clock and 6 service stamps in the book. When I viewed the car I took out the air filter and pollen filter, which had been replaced at the last service, which was 2 weeks before I viewed according to the service book. They looked like they had been on the car for 2-3 years and seen many miles. From this I gathered for what would cost a maximum of £20 to replace, that the fuel filter, brake fluid etc had not been changed either thus rendering the service history useless for me. My first thought was this car has not been looked after and I walked away.

Don't worry about what people will think. As long as you advertise it correctly, anyone that comes to view and to potentially buy will know what the score is and if they are people that are put off by this, they wont bother coming in the first place I would hope.

property.advert

Elongated service intervals would make me think the owner was either preparing to sell or was short of cash. I'd then look at other things, such as tyres, whether wiper blades had been replaced recently etc. to get a general overall feel. A recent cam belt change would probably give me confidence.

With a FDSH, I expect to see stamps and receipts.