Motoring Discussion > Service history: what am I giving away? Buying / Selling
Thread Author: WillDeBeest Replies: 18
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 Wed 27 May 15 22:10 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - WillDeBeest
Just emptied my folder of service documents, tyre receipts and MoT certificates for the S60, going right back to 2002, which are now on the table in a stack of sheets 55mm high. In among all this, of course, are my present and previous addresses, phone numbers, fragments of credit card numbers...really quite a lot of personal data.

Now, what's the etiquette here? I've not explicitly included all the paper in the deal - the service book is stamped everywhere it should be, the V5C and current MoT are present and correct, and they'll be getting all three keys in exchange for their three digits - but it feels churlish - disloyal to the old car, even - to deny it the supporting sheets as it goes to its next home.
But am I giving away too much information? I've seen the details of the previous owner of the BMW (a doctor from the genteel fringe of Slough) and of course I have no intention of contacting him, any more than I did the LEC's first owner in Suffolk. But is anyone likely to make nefarious use of my details in the Volvo dossier? I don't do this very often, so I'd be glad of the thoughts of more experienced heads.
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 Wed 27 May 15 22:21 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Old Navy
The service book is stamped and checkable, the pile of bumpf will not add any value to the car. Your personal information you at giving away , your choice. No way I would pass it on, I have a shredder for stuff like that.
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 Wed 27 May 15 22:33 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Zero
your address is on the V5 anyway, your cc details are incomplete. Do you shred every receipt?

If I am buying a car I like to see the documentation, if its going to a dealer they will just dump the stuff anyway and rely on the service book alone.
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 Thu 28 May 15 09:23 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Fenlander
>>>it feels churlish - disloyal to the old car, even - to deny it the supporting sheets as it goes to its next home.

>>>If I am buying a car I like to see the documentation


Yep I'm big on bumf too. Current 5-series, wife's Polo & daughter's Polo all over 10yrs old have pretty well all their bumf back to new. Service invoices, tyre/exhaust receipts, Autoglass tickets, the odd foray to Halfords and the like give far more of a feel for a car's condition than stamps in a book.

The old Alfa had an amazing (somewhat frightening some respects) receipt file about an inch thick. It enabled me to judge exactly where the car was in its life.

When selling I flick through the stuff before I pass it on but addresses and so on reveal very little. I don't leave credit card receipt slips on the bills anyway so no worry there.

Youngest daughter passed her test two weeks ago and we are car hunting for her... casually looked at the usual dealer rubbish to give her a feel for the various makes. Hope to buy privately and tonight go to see something which has one of its photos on Autotrader the handbook wallet plus open service book showing stamps and past receipts going back years all fanned out on the table.

I may not pay more for that car than one with less detail but it's the one I'm viewing rather than the rest.

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 Wed 27 May 15 22:37 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Bromptonaut
Your name and address are on the V5 and form there, unless you're ex directory the phone number is linked. Not sure about 'fragments of CC numbers', mine are all on seperate slips from the garage's detailed invoice.

I compiled a folder for the Xantia I sold to a scrapper in 2013 lest any purchser putting it back on the road might need it. Bearing in mind the protections against ID theft offered by basic consumer protection legislation any potential for misuse was way below my radar.

Other's may have different perceptions.
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 Thu 28 May 15 00:24 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Avant
Just hand over the stamped service book and the MoT certificates evidence that it hasn't been clocked). That should be enough: someone buying a 13-year-old car is lucky to find one like yours with FSH, so they should be thankful.
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 Thu 28 May 15 01:25 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Armel Coussine
You're not giving anything away that hasn't been given away already by the way the jalopy looks and drives.

I've seen many a bloodshot unfocused illiterate eye cast over many a dog-eared document in many a sweaty sweary south London car park.

Bit the bumf hardly counts. Possession is nine whassernames of the thingammyjig.

YEEEEE-hah!
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 Thu 28 May 15 07:12 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - WillDeBeest
Thanks chaps. Book and MoTs it is.
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 Thu 28 May 15 08:59 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Clk Sec
>>(a doctor from the genteel fringe of Slough)

Advice often given in the 60s, was not to buy a car that had been owned by a doctor.

Something to do with multiple short journeys, I guess.
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 Fri 29 May 15 20:49 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - WillDeBeest
Well, I presented the stack of bills and the dealer turned them away; he kept the service book and the complete set of MoT certificates, though.

If the car has suffered from its three years with Dr G, it really doesn't show. It's quite indecently enjoyable to drive, will do just about any speed in third gear and feels superbly taut and planted while doing it. And when asked to pass something slower, as it was twice today, it just goes. (And this, remember, is the slowest of this family of engines.) Yes, it's firm but not uncomfortably so, even on severely broken and pitted surfaces, of which there are plenty around here, and the lack of rocking or bouncing is a refreshing change from the super-soft LEC, and shows how age had taken its toll on the S60.

To be continued.
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 Fri 29 May 15 21:34 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - ....
No pangs of guilt yet for casting aside a longtime friend who has seen you safely home on numerous inclement evenings ? :-)

One thing I noticed swapping an old S60 for the newer one was the sound system. The newer car, with no rear speakers on the parcel shelf, can't touch the sound quality of the older car. I just can't gel with this S60, I don't know what it is but there's just something about it that doesn't work for me.

I'm looking but can't decide what I want. Convertible appeals but then my motorbike would be redundant, I need a tin roof for winter and something for the summer for when I don't feel like riding my bike.

Anyway, not to hijack your thread, wishing you many enjoyable miles with a six under your right foot.
When are you getting it remapped to provide the poke it's really capable of ?
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 29 May 15 at 21:34
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 Fri 29 May 15 23:11 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - WillDeBeest
No pangs of guilt yet for casting aside a longtime friend...

}:---)
No. Funnily enough, it reminds me of the day we took the previous cat on his final trip. We'd known he wasn't well, but it was hard to judge the timing. But after his heart had stopped on the vet's table, it became clear his lungs had been full of fluid and he must have been struggling to breathe. We had, in other words, made the right decision for him.

It's similar for the Volvo: it had fallen way off the pace through age, and though it'll be fine as a local hack for someone, it would just take too much to get it back to being up to the long, fast motorway trips we expect both our cars to do. Time to move on; good memories but no regrets.
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 Fri 29 May 15 23:28 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - ....
I got rid of mine 'cos I couldn't be bothered fixing the alternator pulley rattle and I fancied something newer.
Biggest (motoring) mistake of my life as I'd stayed on top of all other maintenance thanks to a great indie in Nottingham.
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 29 May 15 at 23:28
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 Sat 30 May 15 01:11 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Auntie Lockbrakes
13 years is a good innings for a daily driver car IMHO. And there's always that lurking fear of a big repair bill just around the corner, inevitably at a hugely inconvenient time too. I chickened out of running my A4 when it was nearing its 10th birthday.

Still miss my 2003 S60 which I traded-in in late 2006... sigh!

Guess the dealer wasn't interested in all the servicing paperwork WdB since the car will be punted off to auction on Monday morning.
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 Sat 30 May 15 01:24 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - No FM2R
My V70, which I loved, was a great and reliable car until something like 175,000 when I sold it.

Have to say though, that in the last 2,000 or so before I sold it suddenly everything started to feel ropey.

Although since about 100,000 it only got the occasional bit of oil and a lightbulb, so fair's fair.

It had several telephone directories covering its first 100,00 miles and several Halford's receipts covering its last 75,000.

Loved that car.
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 Sat 30 May 15 01:37 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - ....
>> 13 years is a good innings for a daily driver car IMHO.
>>
Not for Volvo, their average is 27 years but that is dropping. EU don't like cars on the road for more than ten years so expect Volvo to join the ranks...

27 years is not good for VAT receipts you see.
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 Sat 30 May 15 05:56 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Pat
That's reassuring gmac, we have another 17 years to look forward to!

Unless the heated memory seats pack up, and then it will have to go!

Pat
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 Sat 30 May 15 07:34 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - WillDeBeest
Heaters were still working well on mine, you'll be pleased to hear, Pat. Didn't dare use them on its final trip, though, in case the extra load used up the final teaspoon of fuel before it got there.
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 Sat 30 May 15 08:25 
 Service history: what am I giving away? - Pat
Driving on fumes! I know that feeling:)

Pat
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