Car Service History

barrymung

Hi All, I have a car that's quite old (2007) but has done only 23,000 miles. The service interval is something like 20,000 miles/2 years!


The previous owner had it serviced on the dot every year, even when it hadn't done many miles.


I have always done an oil/filter change on my car every year, which equates to about 10,000 miles, so I intended to do that with this one. However, I'm wondering if I should do something different?


Should I self service every 10K/year and have a garage service every 20k? If so, do I mark my interim service in the book? Would this put future buyers off or would it appeal to them?


Should I just self service every 10k miles and not bother getting it serviced at a garage, as I have done with previous cars in the past?


What is the best way to maintain the value of the vehicle, or is it really not worth it on a £1500 car?

n217970

barrymung wrote: »

What is the best way to maintain the value of the vehicle, or is it really not worth it on a £1500 car?

In my experience even full dealer service history on a car increases its value by no more then £150 at this end of the market. Not worth it imo.

System

barrymung wrote: »

The previous owner had it serviced on the dot every year, even when it hadn't done many miles.

That is exactly how you're supposed to do it and if you read the handbook it will tell you the service interval is say 10,000 miles or 12 months whichever is soonest. Unfortunately too many people ignore the second part not realising that low mileage is actually bad for a car.

Should I just self service every 10k miles and not bother getting it serviced at a garage, as I have done with previous cars in the past?

Self service, if there's a warranty book then record them yourself, keep the receipts for the parts. At that age a massive wad of receipts will maintain the value just as much as stamps in a service book.

wgl2014

It's not going to make much difference to resale value one way or the other, at £1500 there's not much to lose so long as it's running ok.

For reliability and longevity I would look up the manufacturer schedule for harsh conditions and follow this if you are doing the work yourself. Any big or specialist jobs can be done at a garage.

barrymung

Just to clarify the book says 20,000 miles or 2 years. I have always serviced cars at half that. Some forums suggest that the service interval is raised for certain countries as a sort of marketing ploy. The manufacturer doesn't really case if the engine dies at 100k or 200k, all they care about is getting the sale.


I'll service at ~10k and record the work myself. It's not as if there's any warranty involved.

takman

barrymung wrote: »

Hi All, I have a car that's quite old (2007) but has done only 23,000 miles. The service interval is something like 20,000 miles/2 years!

The previous owner had it serviced on the dot every year, even when it hadn't done many miles.

Considering this is a car that has only done just over 3000 miles a year on average (which points to alot of short journeys) i would say an oil change every year was the bare minimum they should have done. An interim oil change every 6 months would have been better as short journeys and not many very bad for car engines as it usually means it never gets up to full temperature.

barrymung wrote: »

I have always done an oil/filter change on my car every year, which equates to about 10,000 miles, so I intended to do that with this one. However, I'm wondering if I should do something different?

Should I self service every 10K/year and have a garage service every 20k? If so, do I mark my interim service in the book? Would this put future buyers off or would it appeal to them?

Should I just self service every 10k miles and not bother getting it serviced at a garage, as I have done with previous cars in the past?

What is the best way to maintain the value of the vehicle, or is it really not worth it on a £1500 car?

I would continue to service the car yourself but just make sure you do a full service and not just oil and filter, so change the Air Filter and Fuel Filter as well as a minimum each year / 10k miles.

I always mark my services in the book when i do it myself and keep all the receipts. That should be enough for any future buyer to be reasonably happy it's been serviced.

Jackmydad

When I serviced myself, and I don't so much these days, I used to write a note in the back of the manual, and keep the receipts.
Person who bought the one car like that said they preferred that to any stamped service history they had seen.
If I was buying an older car I'd agree.
Newer motors are obviously better having the dealer stamped history.