Service due on car I want to sell?

w00519773

I have a 2014-plate Honda Civic that I’m looking to sell as soon as possible.

A service is now due, which would normally cost around £250. I explained my situation to the Honda dealer and they advised I could instead have just an oil and filter change for about £150.

My question is — if I go ahead with the smaller service, can I still say the car has a full service history? The dealer seemed to think I could, but I just want to check if there are any caveats I should be aware of (e.g. does it make a difference if the next buyer checks the Honda service records?).

Would you go for the full service or oil and filter change?

ButterCheese

Personally I'd do a full service but it depends if the service history has been kept up previously.  There are clear service intervals (probably stated in your handbook).  One buyer might assume that an oil chnage constitutes a service, whereas another more dilligent buyer might go through every receipt and question why x hasn't been done at the appropriate time.  At least if you get a full service now, it looks far better to any potential buyers.

FSH is quite a vague area, but technically it means that every service laid out in the manual has been done, which is quite rare.  Oil and filter is just the basics; other fluids need changing (like brake fluid, coolant, gearbox oil etc) which are often overlooked.  Not to mentino other filters like cabin filter, fuel filter.  I'm not even sure if a full service would even cover all of that, you'd have to check

mebu60

Are you selling privately, through a third party or trading in?

If private sale for the sake of £100 I would have the full service and have the detailed invoice to show any prospective buyer it's recently been done.

On-the-coast

All depends on the age & value of the car. 

If you’re looking for 5-10k+ the extra £100 might be worth it. 

All I care about is regular oil & filter changes - & cam / timing belt if relevant.

MyRealNameToo

Generally a FSH should mean that you have evidence of all the work done on the car and that it meets the manufacturers guidelines (frequency/what etc). You wouldnt be the only person in the world to lie and say it has a FSH but in fact some were done late, one or two invoices are missing or you didnt get the recommended service done. 

Then there is the debate of franchised services -v- non-franchised services, most say you can claim a FSH irrespective of if Honda did it or some local firm. A back street garage near us though would have given you three options, a full service for £150, a part service for £75 or just an invoice saying a service was done for £35

When I sold my last owned car the service was due in a few weeks, didnt get it done early saying to prospective buyers that questioned it that I could if they wanted me to but it will add to the price and this way they get to choose who does it rather than and I and potentially my back street garage (all prior services had been done by a VW franchise)

Mildly_Miffed

"full service history" is a meaningless phrase.

Can't it just mean a history of all the work the car's had - no matter how sporadic and half-hearted?

It's an 11yo Civic.
There's roughly a hundred of them on Autotrader. Half of them are £5.5k and below.
Twelve of them list "fsh" in the ad text - half of them are £5k and below.
So does stating FSH in the advert add anything to the price? On average, no...

So what is not being done by trimming that other hundred quid of labour off the service?
Remember, if we're talking about a main dealer, that's probably not much over half an hour's labour.

And why on earth are you taking an 11yo car to a main dealer, anyway?

Goudy

Mildly_Miffed said:

"full service history" is a meaningless phrase.

That's pretty much it.
The evidence of any servicing is what you make of it no matter how it's been described.

Cars that come off fleet might only have a print out of all the dates and nothing more.

Even car manufacturers muddy the water.
My car is on an A and B schedule and if they are followed, is that a full service history?
The stamps in the book and the record on the online app seem to suggest so.

But, every 2 years, 4 years. 6 years there are a host of "recommended" items.
Coolant, gearbox oil and filter, aux belt and even spark plugs, if they are done is that also a full service history?

I've had some of those done at 2 and 4 (it's not 6 yet) but there is nothing in the service book or app to say they have been done.

The only evidence of them being done is the receipts and I won't ever pass on to another owner as they have my name, address and phone number on them (though after the latest data breach by Renault, everyone has them anyway).

If your car has a stamped service book and you want to keep it complete before you sell it, just get the bare minimum needed to get that stamp.
Be warned though, a service isn't just changing filters and oils, there are a host of checks. They might find a list of other issues that need addressing. 

Frozen_up_north

Main dealer servicing is no better than a back street garage... no kidding. They have a list of extras as long as your arm and love to charge for work that isn't needed and omit some pretty basic stuff.

My 11 month old Seat went in for a simple glove box hinge warranty job, the hinge pin had worked itself out. They made up a tale that the whole glove box needed replacing at a cost to me of £411, then decided (after I complained) that they would cover it under warranty. They did a "health check" on the car and said it needed a service in the next month, even though the car computer said a year to go (1st service is at 24 months), in addition the health check showed the engine oil level was OK, when I checked a couple of days later it was near minimum and needed topping up. When I showed the mechanic the image I took of the car info screen showing the time and date, with the oil level in yellow and the screen message saying top it up, he asked if I checked the dip stick as the info systems are not reliable... I pointed out there is no dip stick on these cars, and the only way to check is via the info screen, he went off in a huff.

born_again

w00519773 said:

I have a 2014-plate Honda Civic that I’m looking to sell as soon as possible.

A service is now due, which would normally cost around £250. I explained my situation to the Honda dealer and they advised I could instead have just an oil and filter change for about £150.

My question is — if I go ahead with the smaller service, can I still say the car has a full service history? The dealer seemed to think I could, but I just want to check if there are any caveats I should be aware of (e.g. does it make a difference if the next buyer checks the Honda service records?).

Would you go for the full service or oil and filter change?

How are you going to sell the car?
P/X @ dealer. Pointless servicing. As it will go to auction via any of the big dealers. Small one might put it on forecourt.

Private sale might make it more attractive, but will not add any value on that age of car in reality.

MyRealNameToo

Frozen_up_north said:

Main dealer servicing is no better than a back street garage... no kidding. They have a list of extras as long as your arm and love to charge for work that isn't needed and omit some pretty basic stuff.

In principle I probably disagree, in practice I agree. 

We had a VW Eos and the servicing manager decided one time to show me the service manual for it and the Golf (on which it was based) and the manual was about 3x the thickness but he said the extra cost in service no way covered the extra time it took. 

So in principle I doubt your average backstreet garage is going to be checking all the pneumatics, drains etc that VW were supposed to check on a full service of an Eos. 

In practice when the roof mechanism broke down in action due to water ingress after 6 days of having the car they phoned me saying they were having problems repairing it because they couldn't open the boot and I had to explain to them that its because the roof is about 1% through the opening process but there's a red ring behind the central arm rest in the back seats which if you pull it will open the boot. So if they dont know how the car operates I am more than a little skeptical on their expertise in doing all the extra checks and service items that they are supposed to. 

fatbelly

I suspect if you're selling it privately, you won't add the full value of a service to the sale price.

I'd concentrate on a good clean inside and out making sure the black bits look black and the gloss bits glossy. For bonus points  give a good clean to the engine bay.