Servicing your own car - FSH

Gavin83

I have a question I wish to run by you all.

I'm reasonably good with cars, I'm not a mechanic by any means but I can do the majority of normal jobs. I could certainly service my own cars and have done so in the past. However I have bought a car with a full main dealer service history. If I service this car myself, or even get it done at a regular mechanic would I be hurting the resale value? I'm not even sure I could advertise it as having a full service history anymore.

I would certainly keep receipts, etc but is this enough or should I just pay the extra and get it professionally serviced?

Captain_Flack.

Gavin83 wrote: »

I have a question I wish to run by you all.

I'm reasonably good with cars, I'm not a mechanic by any means but I can do the majority of normal jobs. I could certainly service my own cars and have done so in the past. However I have bought a car with a full main dealer service history. If I service this car myself, or even get it done at a regular mechanic would I be hurting the resale value? I'm not even sure I could advertise it as having a full service history anymore.

I would certainly keep receipts, etc but is this enough or should I just pay the extra and get it professionally serviced?

What value car are we talking about?

If you can evidence a service history it has a full service history. Doing it at home may put some off and not others. An independent history on an older or lesser marque car will make no difference.

neilmcl

How old is the car in question?

laidbackgjr

And even if it did lower the resale value, it's likely to do so by less than the amount you will have saved on servicing cost.

e.g. resale value £500 less, but service cost savings £1000.

boyse7en

Depends whether you call changing the oil and filter a 'service' or whether you mean to properly service you vehicle - checking and changing air and fuel filters, brake pads, plugs, coolant, brake fluid etc. as defined by the service manual.

I don't think home servicing an older vehicle will dramatically reduce its value. But, in my opinion, if you home service you cannot claim a 'full service history'.

If you do end up home servicing, keep receipts for all the parts bought and used and staple them into the service history.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Would depend on many things.

A private sale would be best after this scenario, but depending on the car in question, i as a future buyer would be questioning the owner and or mechanic involved closely as to their knowledge of the car in question and exactly what had or hadn't been done.
Indeed used car buying is a much about assessing the seller as the car in question...waddle quack = duck.

Again, depending on car a make specialists independent workshops service history might count as better than MD for me, but only if the buyer is knowledgeable about the vehicle...for example some main dealers followed the manufacturers later retracted guff about sealed for life automatic gearboxes...the good specialist indies laughed at that marketting rubbish and continued to service gearboxes correctly when the main dealers didn't...hence in some circs a specialist history is better than main dealer, but only to the knowledgeable buyer.

Similarly some recommended service intervals are far too long, and evidence of interim oil chnages for instance add to a cars desirability, but again only to those who think 20k oil change intervals are asking for future problems.

So much depends on the target sale audience when the time comes to sell on, a specialist or more unusual car needs a different type of history to a common car.

Stooby2

It will help to keep all the receipts for the bits you replace, so you can show that each year you replaced filters, spark plugs, oil, coolant etc, as required.

forgotmyname

I advertise as a full service history. I keep all the receipts for parts and dates/mileages.

To some people thats better than a stamp in a book. You have proof that parts have been changed when needed. Not a stamp in a book and a list of jobs that needed doing but didnt get done.

goonarmy

boyse7en wrote: »

Depends whether you call changing the oil and filter a 'service' or whether you mean to properly service you vehicle - checking and changing air and fuel filters, brake pads, plugs, coolant, brake fluid etc. as defined by the service manual.

I don't think home servicing an older vehicle will dramatically reduce its value. But, in my opinion, if you home service you cannot claim a 'full service history'.

If you do end up home servicing, keep receipts for all the parts bought and used and staple them into the service history.

But if you have a history of it being serviced then thats service history. I might prefer that to main dealer services. Ive seen how they can be. Evidence is key. Receipts and money spent on oem parts is probbably better than say kwikfit or similar.

bigjl

For many years i have done all the oil and filter changes on my vehicles.

If the car is fairly new and high value it may make some difference.

But as has been said if you sell your car with itemised proof of what you have done it will show the buyer how well it has been looked after.

My current car has full main dealer history but when i checked the air filter it was filthy and a vacuum pipe displaced from the housing.

If you like keeping some history take it to the dealer once a year and do the rest yourself.

You will save money by just doing stuff like brakes yourself.

LSfan

difficult to say as we dont the age of the vehicle - I would to minor service myself and keep reciepts as record and then take it to the main dealer/specialist for the major