Full service history - Dealer / not

fRostiE

fRostiE

fRostiE

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
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UK
Hey,

Family members have what I can only assume is an unhealthy obsession with FSH cars - they don't buy new as the money that falls off new cars doesn't sit well with them.

My question is, does it make a blind bit of difference, to you... personally... if a car has a Full Honda Service History / FSH (Part Honda & Part Local) / Part Service History / Hardly any

I'm at the point where my car is due its 5th service (minor service) and has been Honda done so far (haggled £100 off the last major one)... each year I consider not going to Honda and am not sure of the resale effects...

What do you look for when purchasing a car. I'm fairly sure most people will tell me to just go local from now on, as Honda want +£60 on top of a local garage price.

Matt
 
depends on the car. If it's a newish car, I suppose it's nice to see the car has been cared for. As the car gets older, as long as there's evidence of an oil change every 10,000 miles, I'd be happy...
 
Personally it makes no difference to me, in fact I think I would rather see some specialists stamps in the service book. As long as it has been looked after and had regular oil changes it's all good.
 
Go with Honda. A full main dealer history and a good condition car is going to put you right at the top of the market. You may well get some of the money back at resale time but the real payback will be that you won't have to put up with tyre kicking losers that you typically get shopping at the bottom end of the Market.
 
MrFunex said:
depends on the car. If it's a newish car, I suppose it's nice to see the car has been cared for. As the car gets older, as long as there's evidence of an oil change every 10,000 miles, I'd be happy...
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but with a full dealer history, the oil changes may have only been every 20k miles so full dealer history is not always a great thing so people's blind faith in the stamps really is mad
 
It makes all the differance to me, and the type of cars I am in the market for, I wouldn't buy it without a full main dealer and perhaps some specialist history on an older car. I guess on a basic everyday car, it's not such a big deal but none the less, it's better to have it than not. I wouldn't buy any car without evidence of it being maintained properly.
 
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What I meant, and perhaps didn't word too well, was as the car gets older, as long as it's seen a garage for a bit of TLC every now and then, that'd sit well with me.

The last few cars I've bought, I've looked less at stamps in the book, and more at receipts. If someone's clearly spend their money on maintaining the car, and fixing the bits that need attention, you're right, that's far better than blind faith in the dealer stamps in the log book.
 
Well I see your point, but it depends what type of car you are buying, like I am in the market for a BMW 540i right now, and there is no way I am going to buy a complex 7-10 year old BMW with a V8 engine that hasn't got a FMDSH or mostly FMD with specialist servicing in recent years. Billybob's motors will not surfice for these kind of cars, fine for a Ford Focus though yes.

I might buy a Honda Civic on your criteria though, maybe if it ran well and everything looked and felt right etc. But it also depends how much you are spending.
 
I stopped using Honda on my 5 year old Type-R after it's first service BUT I used a local and respected tuner/parts supplier in the Type-R community instead, which for a car like that can mean just as much.

I didn't have to go through the whole private sale thing but I don't think it would have mattered if selling to the right people but I know there will be shortfalls with my thinking, despite Honda dealers being quite varying in their service and my trusted one was too far away.


If I was buying something like that again, full dealer wouldn't bother me unless it was all backstreet garage. If it was dealer serviced up to a point (IE, first 3 years) I don't think it's that much of a big deal to be honest.
 
A car with full service history doesn't automatically mean it's been taken care of, as with most things, a case by case basis is the best approach..

Main dealer doesn't always mean godly mechanics either.
 
Always makes me Laugh out loud this as I know people that work in Main dealerships.
FSH is for people who don't know cars or the car trade.
Personally I judge the car myself but most don't have the skill for that so it's best to get a low mileage one owner with FSH for most.
 
To me at least FSH is more of a sign about how the previous owners treated the car and how willing they were to maintain it, no expenses spared. I wouldn't want to buy a car where the previous owner had cheaped out on maintaining it, other things like El Cheapo tyres are a good sign of this too.

While I agree, condition is king, the fact is, FSH is a good indicator of how the car 'may' have been taken care of, if it looks clean in the pictures and has a FSH and not had 15 owners then it's going to be on my short list, if it hasn't got the history, unless I have another reason to look twice, it won't even go on my 'to view' list.
 
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Moeks said:
things like El Cheapo tyres are a good sign of this too.
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so so true. that sort of thing will indicate whether any new parts have been bottom of the barrel, brought on ebay from china, or whether they got the good stuff from the dealer

personally i love receipts. if i ever sold my golf there would be a massive bundle of receipts, only ever bought the best bits, i have every receipt, and it shows in the fact that my cars the nuts after 216k miles
 
FSH is a must for me when buying a car. FDSH is a bonus. I like to see it having Dealer Service history for as long as possible (my 2002 car was on 54k and was dealer serviced up to around 40k/6 years old and had specialist after that).

Dealers don't mean Godly mechanics, but it does mean that people have spent a lot of money on the car and haven't run it on a shoestring, which is a good indicator for the general ethos that the previous owners had when it came to looking after their car.
 
fRostiE said:
well this is pretty much me / everyone in my family, hence the question :D
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I Didn't mean any disrespect. :)
Everybody needs somebody who is connected to the Trade when buying a car & for those that aren't or don't really know or care to much about Motors then FSH is a good indication as has been said earlier.

For these people I would say Don't buy a car without FSH. :)
 
malc30 said:
I Didn't mean any disrespect. :)
Everybody needs somebody who is connected to the Trade when buying a car & for those that aren't or don't really know or care to much about Motors then FSH is a good indication as has been said earlier.

For these people I would say Don't buy a car without FSH. :)
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Are you basically saying FSH is for car n00bs?

I consider myself fairly educated on cars and i wouldn't buy a car without evidence it has been serviced. I'm not saying FSH is the be all and end all of car buying, but it certainly is an integrale part of buying a well cared for car.
 
The thing is, a Main Dealer service history is going to have had the car checked over fully at every service based on the checklist for that car.

A service at an independent is going to involve an oil/filter change, with the occasional spark plug and brake fluid change if you're lucky.

If I was spending more than £5k on a newish car, I'd be looking for full dealer service history. But for older cars, the lack of the aforementioned wouldn't put me off if there sufficient receipts etc. to make up for it.
 
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