I've never been sure if the savings gained by doing your own basic annual service (ie oil change etc.) can be lost in not having a service stamp in the book.
Surely when selling the car won't the lack of a full (stamped) FSH degrade the price?
What do others think

 

For more than 35 years of doing my own maintenance, I've written up my own fully-documented ticket for whatever work I've done and stapled the parts receipts to it. I drop it in the vehicle's file folder in chronological order and put the folder back into my file cabinet. When it's time to sell the vehicle, I invite the prospective buyer to sit down at my kitchen table with me and I show them every record I have from start to finish. When they purchase the vehicle from me, I give them the folder as well....

This process has greatly assisted me in selling every single vehicle I've ever offered to the public, often to the first person who rings our doorbell. Usually, the guy spends more time studying the folder than he does looking at and driving the vehicle....

 

No gurantees, of course, but verifiable service history can only help justify a higher asking price.

As a buyer I'd rather see a folder full of invoices rather than mere stampings in a book, personally.

Cheers
DD

 

I'm another DIY'er who fully documents all maintenance and repairs.

My experience is similar to Jon's in that buyers are always impressed by a comprehensive file of receipts and task records.

Graham

 

I agree with both jon89 and doug,the jag stamps don't mean a thing to me there so easy to obtaine so easy to get a service book stamped up if you know the right people wink wink no matter what make of car you own,I have always gon for a car with loads of receipts I also do the same as jon with all my cars I call it my xk8 bible.

 

Stamps don't mean squat if you have comprehensive documentation, receipts and such related to what you've done.

Whenever I do a repair or even general maintenance I do a few pieces of documentation. I staple my receipt to a sheet of paper and put into the binder, I take a photo of the odometer then print then put in book, a piece of the box of the item put on the car (barcode or piece of box with identification such as part number), and photos of the job in progress. I also put a sheet in with my reason why i did it, what was found, etc.

Is it overkill? To many buyers, yes. But cars such as Ferrari/Lamborghini/Maserati and other expensive exotic makes, it makes a huge difference! Receipts are easy to fabricate. I have receipts, pieces of boxes, odometer photos, and pictures of the work being done on the actual car. That's much harder to fabricate and more comforting to the buyer. This is only a Jaguar, and there are a lot more Jaguar DIYers than Lamborghini DIYers.

My dad used to be an exotic auto mechanic; prewar imports to modern day supercars. We have done major work to his buddies Diablo in our little 2 stall garage. We have video of the car disassembled and parts being installed. A clutch, a timing chain tensioner replacement, engine rebuilld; they can substantially affect resale of the car. So outside of dealer receipts, this is a great way to save money and not hurt resale to the car. Given how many botched or half assed repairs I've seen on dealer maintained cars, I'm not sure I hold too much value in their docs.

 

Stamps in a book are not general practice in North America, so little value is placed on them. UK might be different.

 

I keep all record of things I have had done to my cars. When I sell them the records help, I even do a short video walk around of the car and a short drive and post it on YouTube for them to look at also so they have the best idea of when they are getting before they see it is person.

 

Too true!

But, yes, Jaguar versus Ferrari, Lambo etc is quite a different league.

Routine service visits (not corrective repairs, mind you) on some of those exotics can run into *tens-of-thousands of dollars*. So, yes, a sheaf of service invoices will reassure a buyer that he won't have to spend $15k-$20-$30k just to get caught up on routine service visits after he buys the car....and that certainly makes the car more attractive to buy and worth a higher asking price than an otherwise identical car which lacks the servicing and invoices.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the response guys. I also keep a maintenance book with both my and indi. repairs etc., plus all the receipts, no matter how small the part!
Interesting to learn that in N. America the service books don't hold much sway; here in the UK dealers & buyers still think low mileage and FSH are A Wonderful Thing.

I think it all depends whose buying your car, another enthusiast probably wouldn't baulk at an incomplete SH, but relish a handful of invoices!
On the other hand, your average 'Joe Public' (and that includes dealers) will probably screw their faces up and run.

 

I believe in a combination, the best of both worlds in some ways I guess.

I had my Audi A6 at the dealers many many times, but also did some of the work myself....also a believer in keeping all documentation /receipts etc etc and have a folder now inches thick for any prospective owner.

My Jag has a combination of both as well, similar to above, but I can show receipts that give names / dates times and places of work carrid out, spares bought etc.

Dealership vs DIY....

Recently my aunt needed a service on her Laguna, the dealership wanted to charge £130 for a basic service ( turns out it was just an oil change )
£90 for diagnostics, £38 for air filter and around £52 for cabin filter.

Not only did I do all the work myself ( also used National tyres for oil change ) but in effect, did much much more and many other checks that were not included in the basic service price, but....the service book would have been stamped!

Back to Audi, they recomend changing the air filter every 40k miles, which could be every 2 or 3 years depending on mileage
DIY - every year no matter what

In some ways I believe that a true DIY'er who loves and looks after their car would trump a FSH every time, but, its down to each individual buyers I guess

 

Well here, Full Service History doesn't necessarily mean dealer device history. We value service history, it's just that it can include owner maintained in that full history.