Why dont people keep service records?

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by shmike

Unnecessary redundancy is not important.
Unnecessary redundancy is not important.

It is important if it saves me time when deciding whether to buy someone's car. No matter which make & model I'm looking for, there's always several of them being sold in my local area. Asking about service history is one way to whittle down the options and save time, rather than going over to everyone's house.

[the chi]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Sometimes I think you people just take the opposite side just to disagree.

Ding ding ding...I think he gets it boys...not saying all member here do it, but several admit to arguing just to argue. They like seeing ppl (you especially) get their panties in a wad so to speak.

Originally Posted by Flexin

Even the most well kept car can break the day after you buy it.

James

Yeah, just ask Drewpy.

tee hee.

I have to say, in my short like I avg a car at least every 2 years. New, used, etc. Bikes too, tho I kept the GSXR a good long time. And NONE, I repeat NONE of the purchasers, be they private or dealer have ever asked or cared about records. Nor can any be provided the few times I ask when they tell me how good it was taken care of.

I dont keep them, I dont see the point in more unnecessary paperwork cluttering the place. Not to mention, most of ours is done by the family mechanic, Dad. I'm sure he keeps every single receipt for our stuff and has it filed alphabetically and by date. But thats his thing, and he does it for himself, as he doesnt to my knowledge hand over any of his records when we buy and sell.

As far as mods and such, unless its something crazy awesome, which it never is, I'm not paying more than a vehicle books just because you think you should make some money back that you put into it. Cars arent houses, they dont appreciate. They depreciate. (Again, unless its something insane, like an original Shelby racing Cobra or something along those lines.)

Originally Posted by Homeslice

It is important if it saves me time when deciding whether to buy someone's car. No matter which make & model I'm looking for, there's always several of them being sold in my local area. Asking about service history is one way to whittle down the options and save time, rather than going over to everyone's house.

Now thats a valid point. If you are into whittling them down. But if its something that speaks to your soul and you just gotta have it and no one else has one, are you going to refuse to buy it because they couldnt provide records?

[Trip]

Originally Posted by the chi

Yeah, just ask Drewpy.

tee hee.

I wouldn't call Drewpy's choice "the most well kept." Bart is pretty hard on his stuff.

[anthonyk]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

It is important if it saves me time when deciding whether to buy someone's car. No matter which make & model I'm looking for, there's always several of them being sold in my local area. Asking about service history is one way to whittle down the options and save time, rather than going over to everyone's house.

Well shit, if we all kept service records, it wouldn't save you any time would it?

[Flexin]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

It is important if it saves me time when deciding whether to buy someone's car. No matter which make & model I'm looking for, there's always several of them being sold in my local area. Asking about service history is one way to whittle down the options and save time, rather than going over to everyone's house.

Forget saving time. How about saving money? Ask your questions by email or by phone and decide which ones to go look at. Don't go by a piece of paper. Any papers that make the car look bad can be tossed in the garbage. Now the car looks like a great car that was well taking care of.

Look at the car yourself and decide. Going in knowing what things cost can also help when your deciding what to pay.

James

[Tmall]

Originally Posted by Flexin

Forget saving time. How about saving money? Ask your questions by email or by phone and decide which ones to go look at. Don't go by a piece of paper. Any papers that make the car look bad can be tossed in the garbage. Now the car looks like a great car that was well taking care of.

Look at the car yourself and decide. Going in knowing what things cost can also help when your deciding what to pay.

James

Another great point..

On my Buell I had the; ECM, Front brake rotor, Front motor mount, Exhaust vv solenoid, belt, rear tail light assembly, steering head bearings, and AFV sensor all replaced under warranty. (I'm sure there are one or two things I'm forgetting)

If you didn't know better, you would think I had abused the bike. And that just wasn't the case. I was above and beyond on my maintenance. The only thing I didn't do before schedule was change the fork oil.

By the time it was done, everything that could go wrong had and it had been fixed. So essentially, somebody would be buying the most trouble free Buell on the market. But, if they were a service record nazi they'd have missed out on a 100% problem free bike. They'd likely think it was a POS instead of, "All the wrinkles have been ironed out"....

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by Flexin

Forget saving time. How about saving money? Ask your questions by email or by phone and decide which ones to go look at. Don't go by a piece of paper. Any papers that make the car look bad can be tossed in the garbage. Now the car looks like a great car that was well taking care of.

Look at the car yourself and decide. Going in knowing what things cost can also help when your deciding what to pay.

James

I narrow it down to people who appear professional and well-written. Saying they know what's been done to it and have all the documentation helps. Maybe it sounds elitist, but I'll skip the ads written by people who have problems with English. 9 times out of 10 it's some 19-yr old punk who abused the car. I also avoid ads that only have a 1 line description, with tiny low-res photos. That just forces me to ask more questions about what kind of options it has, etc. And then when they reply I have to try and match up their email with the right car. Sometimes you can't, because the link to the ad isn't in their email.

[Flexin]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

I narrow it down to people who appear professional and well-written. Saying they know what's been done to it and have all the documentation helps. Maybe it sounds elitist, but I'll skip the ads written by people who have problems with English. 9 times out of 10 it's some 19-yr old punk who abused the car. I also avoid ads that only have a 1 line description, with tiny low-res photos. That just forces me to ask more questions about what kind of options it has, etc. And then when they reply I have to try and match up their email with the right car. Sometimes you can't, because the link to the ad isn't in their email.

I would think most would do that. But the bottom line is how does the car run, drive, feel and look? Because I'm not buying a piece of paper I'm buying a car. For you it might help ease your mind. For me I don't trust the paper work and want to focus on the car itself. If someone was pushing the paper work a lot I think I would walk. To me it would seem like they are hiding something. If they just happened to have the paper work and mention it then thats fine. Chances are I'm not even going to look at the paper work. I would ask what was done but in most cases I don't even think I would look at it.

James