look at this way

if you bought a car from me, I'd be able to tell you far more about the vehicle than most sellers, even though they might have a dealer stamped book

I usually do all the work I can on older cars so I know them inside out, warts and all, and I'm happy to pass on that knowledge to a prospective buyer

so who would you rather buy from - the person with no real knowledge of the car but in possession of the stamped book, or me?

most of the time, you find a like-minded buyer, which makes the transaction very easy

if someone ummed and ahhed about my approach I'd tell them not to bother coming to view the car

 

I wouldn't buy a car that had been serviced by me!

It also comes down to whether or not the person you are buying from is trustworthy. I could quite easily print off the service schedule from this thread and make up some work I'd done.

One would hope that the stamps in the service book (with accompanying receipts) are more "proof" than an owner's word for it.

Given the shady practices/bodge jobs I see recommended at times in this forum, I'd be very wary. Conversely, there are plenty of folk here I'd buy from with confidence.

 

Cheap one, say under 3k possibly. Anything above, no.

 

I'm in trouble there then, at my rate of discount I don't get receipts, staff rates are kept quiet, although technically I'm no longer staff there.
Back OT, the age and condition of the car would sway me one way or other, an older car with looked after by the owner wouldn't bother me whereas with a newer(warranted) dearer car I may prefer to see dealer stamps, horses for courses innit.

 

To be honest, if I'm looking around a car, the service history doesn't even get looked at, just the condition and how much the seller knows about what has been done is enough - who gives a damn what it had in the past when you're looking at the condition now? It's nice to know when the belts were last done but tbh, for the cost of a cambelt/etc I usually swap it asap anyway.

I find so many garages and dealers use trainee monkeys to do brake and service jobs I wouldn't trust a full set of stamps even from a Rolls dealer these days.
Main dealers tend to be worse than specialists because it's a set of numpties on a training scheme from the dole doing things as fast as possible to meet the time quota.

Give me a car that's been serviced by a caring owner any day of the week, at least when they've changed the pads they're likely to have cleaned and lubed the sliders and copper greased the bolts and fittings at the same time.

 

I had my own servicing sheets for the S2000 detailing mileage and what was done to the car and what products used. That and thousands of photos.

Certainly more comprehensive than a stamp.

 

Self serviced wouldn't put me off as long as the owner kept receipts for parts;. I'd prefer it as long as the owner clearly knew what they were talking about and used decent parts/fluids. Much more reassuring that a few stamps in a service book.

 

This is part of my argument, an owner is more likely (especially on niche cars like S2000s) to be thorough and a little bit anal, whereas a dealer or garage is more bothered about getting it done quick.




I'm not sure if a photo of someone stood in the engine bay is something that would put me off or not!

 

Well, I changed out my wife's Mini's radiestator today as the garage chap said there is a small leak from the radiator when pressure tested. He said he would put in K-Seal but I rather he didn't (I bet a lot of customers would have as it is much cheaper) so went and got a Behr (OEM) radiator without the Mini label and fitted it. I did not see any residue of the coolant anywhere (I do not have a pressurising system to check though) so I am now thinking it may not have been the radiator(could be thermostat housing leaking). I took utmost care in what I did and I know I would have taken more care than the garage. The point of the story is only real enthusiast will understand if the car has been maintained properly by a DIYer and the average Joe Bloggs will walk away. I don't intend to sell my S2000 so I couldn't care less what others thought but I keep receipts and make records of what I did. If anyone knows what they are looking at I don't think they would worry too much - the guy in the Honda garage when doing my MOT said "how much time do you spend cleaning the car's engine bay?" Answer: I don't.

 

I'd buy the right self-serviced car (out of warranty, cheaper end of scale, and nothing too spectacularly specialist required) from the right owner - obvious knowledge, evidence of work and a credible story on how any specialist equipment required was obtained would do it for me.

My re-sale ambitions would also affect my judgement on it. If I intended to re-sell in the foreseeable future, I'd reflect on the fact that - regardless of my opinion and others here - most of the buying public do set great store by service history. I'd want the purchase price to be at least slightly FSH market value to reflect that.