Full Service History...

Tesla

Tesla

Tesla

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
17,599
Location
Bristol, UK
At the moment the new van has FSH.
The mileage is low at 21k and it's just turning 3 years old.

When I had the Mondeo it was home serviced which saved me a decent amount of money. My friend is a mechanic at the local Mazda/Lotus dealership and if I need to I can get in there after hours or on his saturday shift (once per month).

Now, I am in two minds wether to home service the new van or not.

If I home service it will save me money and I will know that everything has been done properly and thoroughly.

However, the service book won't be stamped.

There is a Fiat dealer around 1/2m from my house so I popped in there and a "bronze service", esentially an oil change is £79!

My van is due a full service which from Fiat is £159. It has crossed my mind to get them to do an oil service so I get the stamp and then the rest of the work myself.

The recommended oil is this Fiat Selenia stuff which is quite expensive, around £40 but i'm not sure it need's to be used. Other people seem to get on well with Castrol Edge which is much cheaper.

I intend to keep the van for several years. I am concerned it will look clocked when selling due to low mileage and lack of service history if I don't stamp the book up.

Your thoughts and experience on the matter please.

P.S. Where is good for Fiat parts other than the dealer at the end of my road (convenient!).

EDIT - Actually, if Fiat use Selenia oil and Fiat oil filter thats about £50 worth of parts so £79 is perhaps not so bad. I could look into this Castrol edge and ask Fiat how much a service costs if I supply the oil. The £159 is silly though as all they do is fit a new air filter and fuel filter on top of the oil service.

EDIT 2 - Castrol Edge 5w40 Diesel oil is £40 at Halfords. I expect I can get this at Costco for less though.
 
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Doubt they will stamp the book for a fulll service if they do as you ask and only do an oil service. Doubt even more if they will use your oil rather than their own recommended one for an official service.
 
On one hand, if I was a potential buyer and the bloke said I serviced it myself and had no proof I would always think, is he BS me?
On the other hand I think garages do severely overcharge on labour.
I mean come on, £79 for an oil change. Assuming they use the good stuff, they probs pay £30 tops for it, then 30mins tops labour £49!?! No thanks!

I would just keep the receipts of the stuff you bought like oil, filters etc as proof you did the service.
The value the van loses (if any) would be less than the service savings:)
 
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Can't your mate stamp it at his garage?
A friend of mine who works at the local council depot servicing their vehicles does my car and stamps it.
If not, maybe if your meticulous with all your receipts for parts and consumables, previous mot's etc and keep a good record of all the work you've carried out, that would go some way to make amends.

Also how much is it going to be worth when your selling it, my misses is selling her Saab soon, it is on a T plate, full service history and worth about £800- £900. If it didn't have any history it would be worth maybe £700 - £800.
 
Is it possible to calculate :
1. How much it would cost to have garage services done?
2. How much value this adds to the vehicle come resale time?
3. How much money you would save by servicing your self?
4. The difference between the figures at point 2 and 3?

5. Is it worth it?

6. Bear in mind doing it your self costs your own time (what's /your/ hourly rate?)
 
Won't be a dealer logo stamp however and anyone with half a brain would phone the dealer if the vehical had a FSH and check it out.

Or perhaps thats just me?
 
Personally if i had part service history, a notebook of work carried out and a folder full of reciepts to verify it i'd be happy to buy a vehicle.
 
Not many commercials have a service history as such, usually, dealers have their own records to back up the vehicles history, but in my experience, FSH seems not as essential to a van buyer as a car buyer.
 
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mglover070588 said:
The dated receipts would prove when you bought the service parts. If you really want you could take pics of the mileage and date.
Click to expand...

I keep a book becasue it's easier to leaf through than receipts :)

I think if you've gone to the trouble to do that, or to just keep the reciepts you'll be beleived anyway.
 
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