Service History

DuncanClench

Hi

I'm about to buy a car from motorpoint.

I've asked them to email me the service history

What they sent me was just dates only - seems to be all electronic

Is there any paperwork they should be giving me if I buy the car showing what work had been carried out at each service?

daveyjp

They will only provide it if they have it. As most of their cars are probably from auction or car buying companies the chances of this are very slim.

If that level of paperwork is important find a smaller trader who flips trade ins.

Lorian

It would of course be good to get a stamped service history book with all dealer stamps.

An all electric service history could mean this is an ex hire/fleet car serviced by their own agents. I've bought several from motorpoint over the years.

What matters is who the manufacturer is, who serviced it and using what oil and filter, and was it done on time according to the manufacturers schedule. That and how much warranty is left.

Frozen_up_north

Seat, and possibly all the VW Group, no longer have service books. It is all recorded electronically. Under data protection legislation it is unlikely that a dealer would hand over any receipts from a previous owner.

I wouldn’t put too much faith in service book stamps either. I have traded in a car with missing service history to a main dealer who said it didn’t matter, no idea if they added spurious dates and stamps. Equally a guy I worked with checked a second hand car with full main dealer service stamps but noticed a date written in spirit marker on an oil filter from 5 years earlier. Maybe these reasons are why electronic records were introduced.

Car_54

AIUI the electronic record will simply show that the vehicle was serviced by franchised dealer X on date Y. You should be able to assume that those services were carried out to the manufacturer's specs.

For any additional work, as said above, the seller should not pass on receipts etc. if they show the previous owners' identities.

elsien

Skoda don’t do service books. (as above, part of the VW thing.) I have kept the service records because I did wonder how that would work if I came to sell the car.

Car_54

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82184491#Comment_82184491

Over the past 25-or-so years I have traded in about 15 cars, mainly to franchised dealers. They have all had stamped books, but no-one has ever asked for any other paperwork. (Except the V5C, obvs.)

BlueHarbourBouy

Any remaining manufacturer's warranty has to be backed up with some record of servicing by a franchised dealer . If the vehicle lacks this info then any work required during the guarantee period would be refused,

facade

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82184546#Comment_82184546

The requirement is that it be serviced on time, to the manufacturers requirements, and use manufacturer approved parts and fluids.

If it wasn't done at a franchised dealer, then the onus is on the claimant to prove that this is so (and manufacturers make this quite difficult)

forgotmyname

They may not give you paperwork because it contains the previous owners name and address. Data protection
now a problem for them.

Dealer missed a sales receipt for a tyre on my current car which did have their name and address but other
paperwork had been removed or the sliced the top off where the name and address were.

They need to be careful because the barcodes printed on the pages may contain the name/address. I always
bought cars that came with receipts for the actual work done not just a stamp in a book which maybe an oil
change and nothing else and data protection now causes problems with that.

Frozen_up_north

Note, Seat cars (and by that I guess other VW Group cars) can be serviced by 3rd party garages who can update the electronic records. It is not just main dealers that can upload service data.

There is no requirement to have cars serviced by main dealers in order to still be covered under warranty, the only requirement is to adhere to the manufacturers service intervals, recommended oil types, etc. The exception is where extras are included with a main dealer service, such as a 12 month EU wide breakdown service (Seat), or 12 months extra warranty (Toyota), etc.