Servicing your own car - FSH

john_white

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Fair one, although at least with home servicing (asuming a private sale) you can speak to the guy who claims to have done the work and get some idea whether you trust him or not

Exactly, if like you say someone has a folder of years of receipts of DIY servicing you'd be more inclined to believe them. Someone selling a 4 year old car with 3 dealer stamps and DIY receipt dated 2 weeks before advertising for sale would make me think twice.

john_white

Retrogamer wrote: »

What is proof of service?

No idea, stamps can be forged etc. DIY and dealer can be hit or miss.


Even if a car has a full history it can be a lemon. So basically nothing really proves a car has been serviced, or more importantly, serviced well.

Captain_Flack.

londonTiger wrote: »

Same here.

Brake pads bought 06/2012; fitted 03/2013
Engine oil bought 04/2013; fitted 11/2013

I keep a spreadsheet of all the items I've bought and when I fitted them so the next owner knows about the disparity and doesn't change stuff unnecessarily

I just grab stuff when ECP are doing sales, I've cut back now but before I had all the fluids in the shed.

Worrying, very worrying.

Stooby2

Why? He's probably like me and buys everything in one go, ready for a service. He may have bought far more oil than he needed on offer. Then did his service and decided his brakes were fine for another thousand miles or so and replaced them later.

I've currently got a full set of filters sitting in my garage ready for the next service, they'll be a year old by the time I use them, but when I ordered them, it was free postage so I ordered two sets.

Captain_Flack.

Stooby2 wrote: »

Why? He's probably like me and buys everything in one go, ready for a service. He may have bought far more oil than he needed on offer. Then did his service and decided his brakes were fine for another thousand miles or so and replaced them later.

I've currently got a full set of filters sitting in my garage ready for the next service, they'll be a year old by the time I use them, but when I ordered them, it was free postage so I ordered two sets.

The fact he's even touching brakes.

AdrianC

...and this is why Flack's the only poster here in my ignore list... Which'd be lovely, if people didn't keep feeding him, quoting his stuff...

Richard53

boyse7en wrote: »

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'.

I don't see why not. 'Service history' is what has been done to the vehicle, with an implication that it has followed the manufacturer's schedule. 'Full' implies that every scheduled service has been done at the appropriate time/mileage. That's how I would read an advert, anyway. It could be just an assertion with no evidence, it could be a DIY schedule backed up with receipts, or it could be fully documented with dealer stamps - in any case there is an element of having to trust what you find.

In an advert, I would take 'FSH' to mean what I have said above. 'FDSH' would imply the work being done by a dealer for the make, and things like 'FBMWSH' being even more specific, for what that's worth.

I haven't bought a new vehicle for many years. The ideal for me would be either a full set of stamps from a trusted independent garage (as others have said, more likely to be proper mechanics) or a sheaf of notes and receipts to show the owner has done the work himself. Back that up with a chat to the owner to see if he/she really is up to speed on the requirements and likely honest, and I'm in.

Yes, a file of receipts is not proof of the work being done, but then neither is a main dealer stamp. You have to take things on trust, backed up with a little common sense, and if something doesn't look or feel right, assume the worst.

As Joe Horner has said above, much servicing these days is a lot simpler than 30 years ago. A recent full service on my car was basically a change of all fluids and filters, and a visual check of everything else. None of it was rocket science.

Stings

Nowadays where high mileage cars can be readily available, a fully stamped garage service history can be invaluable. I've just bought aSkoda Octavia 1.9TDi with FSH. I wouldn't have bought it without the FSH at 146000 miles, as it is I believe the engine is good for a long while yet.

Retrogamer

Stings wrote: »

Nowadays where high mileage cars can be readily available, a fully stamped garage service history can be invaluable. I've just bought aSkoda Octavia 1.9TDi with FSH. I wouldn't have bought it without the FSH at 146000 miles, as it is I believe the engine is good for a long while yet.

What's better though.
A garage stamped FSH, where it's been serviced every 10k and occasionally the wrong grade of oil has been used.

Or

A garage stamped service history for half it's life (same as above) but the other half of it's life it's been serviced by DIY mechanic always using the correct grade of oil every 7k?

bigjl

Stings wrote: »

Nowadays where high mileage cars can be readily available, a fully stamped garage service history can be invaluable. I've just bought aSkoda Octavia 1.9TDi with FSH. I wouldn't have bought it without the FSH at 146000 miles, as it is I believe the engine is good for a long while yet.

If it is a tdi then certainly it will live a long time.

Some say the pd version is not so long lived but with correct VW spec oil use you should be fine.

I would stick with VW spec 5w40 though.

5w30 is often used now.

But back in the day 5w40 was the flavour and when the tdi and pd engines would easily do 300k in the hands of couriers and minicab drivers.

The old 1.9 was one of the best engines from VAG. The 1.9pdi was good but not as robust due to the complexity of the pump deuse system, spelling may be wrong.