Full Servisce History

[qwertyuiop]

When searching around for a new car, you tend to look for one with a full service history... I've never really thought of this, but why?

Is it really that important, as apposed to some service history?

Opinions...when buying your car did you look for a full service history, has your car got a full service history?

Discuss.

[Debz]

Mine has yeah :D

I would say the importance of it would depend on the age of the car. Certainly for older cars like mine it is very important. It certainly gives a good indication of the state of the vehicle.

In my case my car is 11yrs old, she has FSH and is in very condition indeed. She has been really well looked after and I am reaping the rewards!!! You could certainly get other 2's similar age in a bad way. I know toyota are known to last but if they are not looked after this isnt true. The problem you would have when there are gaps in the SH is that it may be a case that one or more of the owners have neglected the car, this could cause future problems, not necessarily recognisable unless you get an expert to have a good dig around.

To be in honest in my opinion it would just worry me that the car hasnt been looked after properly, cause it doesnt take much to pop it in for a service. If this was the case you would need to have a good look at the Sh it has and talk to the owner to establish the reasoning, check the work that should have been done in relation to the age eg. timing belt. and the condition of the car in depth. Obv this would go for any car but for so for one without FSh. My opinion.

[Kelvyn]

All the motoring shows make a big deal about service history. All you can say really is that a car with history MIGHT be generally better looked after. In reality you can only generalise . For example you could come across a car with FSH thats had the b*lls thrashed out of it all its life by some max muppet. Would that necessarily be a better car than one with NO history thats been serviced and cherished by an enthusiast owner? Sure service history tells you the car has been serviced regularly but it doesn't tell you how its been looked after.

I certainly helps when it comes to selling a car but in my opinion isn't always essential, and depends on the type and cost of the car in question.

I've been driving now for about 35 years and my wifes car that we bought second hand last year is the first car we've had with FSH, maybe we've been lucky with the cars we've bought but we've had no major reliability problems so far.

[GT4 BOOSTER]

i have a 95 celica with none , its first class all round .

i got a suzuki vitara yesterday with full service history , also first class .

paperwork can go missing from keeper to keeper.

some history is better than non i supppose , but as kelvyn says it dont mean its been drivin sensibly at all.

[Debz]

yeah but just because a car had been thrashed doesn't mean it is in a bad way.

If its regularly serviced and the correct updating made as i mentioned then thrashing shouldnt be an issue.

[Razor_Rage]

havent got any history on my mr2 and it's perfectly fine

[qwertyuiop]

This is exactly what I was thinking, most of the time it looks good on an advert, but like you guys say, it doesn't make it a better car.

I was looking at Suzuki Vitara's a few months back. I drove one and it felt really sluggish... but then again, the seller was a lying (insert) trying to make a fast buck.

[Kelvyn]

yeah but just because a car had been thrashed doesn't mean it is in a bad way.

If its regularly serviced and the correct updating made as i mentioned then thrashing shouldnt be an issue.

You think?????

I know which I'd sooner buy. They dont do regular rebuilds on race engines for the fun of it, and they are built to a higher spec than our cars. Internal parts of the engine get stressed in use(ever heard of metal fatigue?) With abuse the con rods can fail as can any of the moving parts inside the engine, its the reason they fit rev limiters and while that gives the engine a good degree of protection you must agree that an engine driven carefully over say 100,000 miles will almost certainly be better than one thats been thrashed for the same distance even if they have both had the same servicing. Plus of course its not just the engine that will get a hard time, you also need to consider the gearbox, drive shafts, all the suspension parts and brakes and even the body structure.

[stgeorge]

When I bought mine FSH was important to me - this was largely due to the fact that I am not really in a position to sort out any problems and wanted to avoid a car that was going to be expensive to repair due to neglect.

Realistically the FSH and stack of receipts just bought me piece of mind really - ask me in 12 months time if I have had any problems and I will let you know then if it was worth the extra - only time will tell

Just my two pence......