Is It Good To Try And Find A Car With Service Records

How to check your car's service history

A total service history can add value to your car: here's how to cheque it, and where to expect for the data.

1 Feb 2022

vehicle service book

If you've been looking at used car listings recently y'all will have been likely to come up across the phrase 'full service history', sometimes written equally FSH. This indicates that the current owner has consummate records of the maintenance carried out on a vehicle over the course of its life.

It'southward of import to look for a total service history when buying a car: you want to know for sure that a vehicle has been properly looked after, and that the seller isn't trying to hide any mechanical bug that could come back to haunt you at a later date.

Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for a car's service history being incomplete. The paperwork could simply exist lost, or service stamps may exist spread across the car'due south service volume and garage invoices.

But if you're worried about gaps in a car's history, there are ways of tracking down the missing information. Y'all just accept to know where to look.

Service history: where to find it

Ideally, a auto volition have been issued with a service volume in which the garage performing each service will log the vehicle mileage, item the completed work and authenticate the information with a stamp.

Some drivers also enquire for a receipt or invoice that itemises each task carried out and the costs incurred. Over time, this forms a detailed history of the maintenance conducted on a car, assuasive you to track which parts have been repaired or replaced, and when.

These days, manufacturers as well keep an online record of whatever automobile that'southward serviced by a franchised dealer. These tin be retrieved by whatever dealership in only a few clicks.

How to track down missing service history info

If some of a car's service history is missing, you may be able to recover information technology. If you know that it has been maintained past a franchised dealer, your local showroom may exist able to produce all of the documentation relating to the car's maintenance. This is more than likely to work for newer vehicles, equally older motors are less probable to have records stored online.

You volition need to prove that you are the vehicle owner, ideally by showing a payment receipt signed by the previous owner. Producing the car's log volume (also known as the V5C) won't be enough, as this merely identifies the registered keeper. You lot'll also need the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

If your motorcar has been serviced by an contained garage, yous tin can inquire them to produce copies of any documentation they hold regarding your vehicle, although they won't necessarily have these on file.

Bear in mind recent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy rules mean garages may exist cautious, and less willing than they once were to share service records, however.

If you don't fifty-fifty know which garages have serviced your vehicle, you lot have 2 options. The first is to perform an MOT bank check on the government's website, for which you just need your machine's registration number. You tin can then view the test location for each of the car'south MOTs by entering your 11-digit V5C number: this could give you some clues as to where a vehicle was serviced.

Bank check out our used car guide for more advice for buyers...