Service History - Should I carry it on?

[AntB]

All,

I have a question.

My 1989 2.7 Lux has covered 82K miles.. It has extensive history, both OPC and then specialist... Its got history from these every year for 12K services regardless of milage covered.

So - my question is this...

Do I keep this full service history up?? I can perform the services myself but then I wouldnt have that 'specialist' history..

I dont want reduce the overall value of the car as its a VERY clean example etc..

So what do we think.. Spend that £200 - £300 per year for a specialist to do the anual service (will be GT One in Chertsey) and keep the service history up..
... or do I do it and just do it all myself and keep parts receipts and write date / milage etc on them - and could this reduce the value of the car?

thanks

Anthony

 

[DavidL]

I don't think I would worry about it. If you are happy with your skills then DIY, just get complete receipts for the parts, oil etc and run up a decent spreadsheet and make sure you fill it in.

Should you come to sell it personally I would be quite happy with a knowledgable and skilled vendor showing me what and how he had done these things.

In the nicest possible way unless you have a mint, low mileage car that will compete with the best concourse cars it will be neither valuable enough or able to lose enough value by not having stamps in books.

 

[graham.webb]

Hi Anthony

Just my view, but consider this: with the enormous cost of some routine repairs, a car without a decent service history has got to be a risky prospect. In the c£1-2k market this might not be a problem, but if you hope to stay around £3-5k then it certainly is. For that reason alone I'd say it's worth keeping up the history.

There seem to be people who'll buy a car like a 944, then move it on when they discover the real cost of ownership...these are the cars without a fsh?!

The accepted wisdom is that early years of ownership the car might cost £1k+ in repairs, but this is usually less than the depreciation you'd suffer on something newer and less interesting.

FWIW with my specialist I'm spending around £1k a year BUT they have a good relationship with the garage that MoTs it, so I'm not being abused by a bunch of fatheads who'd want to charge me for changing light bulbs. I reckon it's costing less to get it through the test than if I just put it forward locally and crossed my fingers!

 

[Fat Albert]

A basic Oil service at an indy should be around £100, that will put a stamp in the book...money well spent?

 

[jasonp]

hiya ant, your cars mileage is so low, i agree it would be worth it to carry on the service history with a specialist and get the correct stamps at the correct time, it sounds like all the "niggly" things that can crop up you can deal with but keep the history going then your having the best of both worlds, regards jason p

 

[pauljmcnulty]

A car that was well-maintained by owner the himself did take a hit when he sold it recently. Question is, how much of a hit? He'd owned the car for, I think, over ten years. Assume he'd saved many hundreds every year and the loss of, say, £1K or £2K isn't worth worrying about. If, however, you are only keeping the car for a couple of years and it's only basic servicing that's needed you'll be better off with a full history.

 

[pegasus]

I wouldn't bother with the service history thing,I was in the trade for many years and always found that a keen "amateur " with a good grounding in basic skills would always do a better job than some mechanic that had not long finished his training or an experienced mechanic who had to work to a budgetto turn a profit. Personally I find it very difficult to let anyone near any of my cars having had a bad experience with a windscreen fitter recently who kept calling me mate and could not grasp the fact that I owned the car and he was not doing me a favour fitting the windscreen for the insurance company.Do what work you can,enjoy your car and if you get stuck ask someone,Ther is a lot of nonsence talked about these cars bcause they have the name porsche,they are only cars,I dont make a big deal out of the engine in the boat I work on but it is worth more than half a dozen porsches to replace,we do the work and keep a log,all the best John.

 

[TheFiend]

ORIGINAL: sc0tty

pegasus, i cannot agree with you less. Not everyone uses the dodgy mechanic you describe,and how many porsche buyers guides do you read that say "dont worry about service history"? Also, this is the porsche club GBs forums, so some us DO care that it is a porsche and not some other crappy make, some of us pay annual membership for a reason, so if you dont like our cars, then go away and play with your boat.

Scotty - The idiot that you are, and your snobbish attitude to other 944 enthusiasts is actually making me consider not renewing my membership!

I enjoy driving my 944, I don't mind if it gets dirty and I like to fix things myself- (I am an engineer by trade). I live quite a distance from the nearest OPC or indy - so even to get a "proper service" would cost me a lot of time just to get there.

I have now owned my 944 1 year, done 10000 miles in it and apart from oil, filters and plugs, plus a cassette-box hinge it has needed nothing.

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: sc0tty

Yawn... (and a complete over reaction to the the post by John - do you really think a 944 is different from any other well designed and put together car? Lets face it, the 924 was designed to be a VW for crying out loud...)

Anthony, I'm with the majority, you may lose some money when you get rid of it, or the car may take slightly longer to sell but if you plan to keep the car for a reasonable length of time then there will be good savings in the long run, plus you get the warm glow of a job well done. It certainly wouldn't put me off buying a car maintained at home (quite possibly the opposite if I've met the owner) and I'm sure you'll find many real enthusiasts will feel the same.

 

[wibble]

[FONT=Arial"]Quite a low mileage, I would be inclined to carry on getting stamps in the book. Depends on your plans with the car.

However, I do my own servicing for peace of mind and satisfaction and will take on most jobs, until I need specialist tools or equipment. The previous owner to my car did his own servicing and that did not put me off - especially when I saw he was restoring a E-Type Jag from the ground up and was about to fit a supercharger to his 'toy' Exige.

I do meticulously record everything I do on my car, backed up with receipts and mileage.

 

[Copperman05]

Oh dear...please scotty I think you need to revaluate your input on this topic

I think we have two different sides of the camp here, those who do there own work and those who dont. If you carry out the work yourself you may find that those who normally have their work done by an Indie may be put of by it. However, those who routinely carry out mechanical work on the own cars would probably not see it as an issue.

However, when I went to look at a 944 once the owner told me he had serviced it himself, but when asked what work he had carried out he couldnt tell me much beyond checking the fluid levels[&:].

So will it affect the resell price? possibly... but it depends on how well you do the work and whether you can stand up to the scrutiny of a prospective purchaser, through records of work, receipts, etc.

Alternatively why not do the interim servicing yourself every 6000 miles or so and get an indie to do the 12,000 and get your book stamped...that way you get to save bit of money and keep your service history.

Edd

 

[andy watson]

Hi Anthony

With such low milage and a fully stamped book, it has got to be worth while carrying on with that history, if you were to sell in the near future then missing the last stamps could cost you more than paying out to have a garage do the work if however you were to keep the car for some time then the fully stamped book would be a god send in value to the buyer (and your pocket)

Of course this is only my personal opinion, my car has covered 153,000 and has a fully stamped book both OPC and Indie and I have owned her for 9 years.

I have used 2 different indies and of late the cost does seem to rising to a degree that has made me just enquire at OPC, I was surprised to learn that a 12,000 mile service was £365 using only genuine parts of course, and this was £25 cheaper than my indie and OPC is 15 miles closer to home.

Food for thought maybe??

Regards

 

[cococola]

I carry out my own servicing and record everything that I do.My service book has quite a few stamps in it ,however I do over service mine with oil changes etc so I think whoever buys the car in the future will be able to see that the car has been well maintained or not.
I also dont see the point in slagging people off on the forum as it gets very boring the forum is surely for peoples respectable opinions rather than getting personal.

 

[pegasus]

Scotty,I have just read your views on my thoughts on service history,even if I did not agree with someones opinions I would never be as rude as you.As for the mission statement of the porsche club I thought it was to help each other and get the most out of our cars.why don,t you get yourselfe elected to a position in the club that you can dictate culb policy,until that happens I think you should wind your neck in and try to contibute to the forum,I know you can't help much on the technical side,(I had to tell you how to open your armrest) but there must be something you can contribute other than this strange eletist bile that you constantly come out with.I'm sorry to have to write this but I think you are a complete arse, and why would anyone bue a porsche if the didn't like them? all the best John.

 

[AntB]

Come on Gents - all friends and fellow enthusiasts here []

Thanks for all the comments and opinions.. I have spoken to my Indie (GT One) and they are going to carry out a minor service Tue as its only done 4k since last years 12k service, and anything over and above I will either do myself and keep receipts, or depending on the job, pass to GT One who are, I have to say a fantastic outfit..

p.s. just for fun - here is a poor pic I took today as the light was going after a Megs wax.

 

[pegasus]

old banger? loser? I think you need help,like I said you are a total arse