Service History vs No Service History. Myth busted
Service history is one of those things that gets spoken about quite a lot, especially if you are selling your car.
You will often get buyers asking “has it got full service history” or “has it got complete main dealer service history”.
Providing you have owned the car from new and serviced it by the manufacturer you purchased the car from then you can relax and feel confident in saying yes to any of those two questions.
However for those of you who haven’t owned the car from new or may have skipped a service here or there you might find yourself in a slightly worse-off position and have to accept a lower price when selling your car.
Show me the money
How much of a difference does it make not having complete and clear service history for your car? Well the answer is actually around 20% on average. That is a vast amount of money to miss out on and assuming the current value for a moderate mileage 2010 Volkswagen Golf GTI is around £10,000, that could mean that your moderate mileage 2010 VW Golf GTI with part service history could be worth only £8,000. That’s £2,000 difference!
Of course, there are other variables in assessing a car’s value, but that’s for another blog another time. Speaking of which, make sure you are signed up to read our latest blog posts as they go live!
That means that if your average annual service for your VW Golf each year is £200, It is worth spending the £1,400 on servicing it over 7 years! (of serviceable miles since it was new)
I know that feeling when the dreaded service light shows it’s ugly spanner icon on your car’s dash. That immediate panic about how much it is going to cost and how you are going to pay for it. But it seems that based on this study, it is worth getting it serviced by the main dealer. If not for confidence, in the long-term when you come to eventually sell it. (Providing you are selling privately of course)
This is just an example of the importance not just of servicing your car every year, but also of displaying this history to potential buyers, showing them exactly what they want to see and you will have them eating out of your hands to buy the car from you. Sort of….
