Does motorcheck.ie tell you how many times a car has been serviced?

Geezy

I'm hoping to buy a used car from a dealer this Monday but the service history in the service book seems a bit sparse. Would motorcheck.ie be able to tell me how many times the car was serviced? If so would the €20 (2 star) option be enough?

George Dalton

No it won't give you that kind of info.

JIdontknow

It doesn't but I think it tells you any times it's tax expired so if you see a few arrears over the years cross check them with the service history etc might help you a bit. Not familiar with motor check but I think ( could be wrong) cartell list the times it was untaxed, could be wrong though.

Geezy

Thanks guys, yeah I was hoping to do something like that to extrapolate the info I need. I was hoping in the mileage checks for example it might say the source e.g. simi workshop. That way I could see if there was a service in an independent dealers who didn't put it in the book but may have logged it elsewhere. There is a gap of 3 years (48km) and I would like to know if it was serviced during this timeframe. Its a one owner 2010 tdi golf for what it's worth.

Geezy

What if I looked at an nct during the timeframe... would the car pass with a service light on?

biko

You could ask the current owner.
What car is it? Petrol/diesel etc?

Geezy

It was traded into a main dealer. I asked them and they said people often get them serviced by independents who dont don't always stamp the books. Car comes with year parts and labour warranty so not the end of the world but I'd prefer to know. Its a 1.6 diesel btw

Noccy_Mondy

Geezy wrote: »

What if I looked at an nct during the timeframe... would the car pass with a service light on?

Yes it would, the service warning lights can be easily turned off though.

Geezy

Going to call the previous vw dealer listed on the service book on monday to see if they have any more history. Don't think theres much else I can do. From what I can find out 30,000 km seems to be a common service interval for diesel vw's.

blindside88

Geezy wrote: »

Going to call the previous vw dealer listed on the service book on monday to see if they have any more history. Don't think theres much else I can do. From what I can find out 30,000 km seems to be a common service interval for diesel vw's.

30,000km service intervals seems like quite a lot. I have a diesel passat and I have it serviced every 10,000 miles. We are very poor at having cars serviced in this country so I'm often more surprised to see a full service history than a patchy service history on most cars for sale

Geezy

blindside88 wrote: »

30,000km service intervals seems like quite a lot. I have a diesel passat and I have it serviced every 10,000 miles. We are very poor at having cars serviced in this country so I'm often more surprised to see a full service history than a patchy service history on most cars for sale

I totally agree, I think we're slowly catching on to the importants of regular servicing. 30,000km service intervals are bases on using long life oil from what I have read. Depends on driving style and average mileage... still 48km definatly seems excessive if there was no service during this time.

Stoolbend

30,000km service intervals are just to make the car cheap for leasing companies.

That's way to long to leave a car without at least 1 oil change in between.

markpb

This might be a n00b question. I bought my first car a few months ago, an old Peugeot. It didn't come with anything I'd recognise as a service book, just a glove compartment stuffed with receipts for work done.

I've had it serviced twice and neither time did the garage mention a service book, they just gave me a receipt showing the work done. Those receipts are also stuffed in the glove compartment but at least they're printed, not handwritten like some of the old ones.

Am I missing something?

Beer Assistant

30,000km service intervals wow!

I do about 6,000km per year and religiously service every 5,000km.

So service once a year, self service no garage stamp or paper trail just piece of mind for myself. Just because it has no garage stamp doesn't mean it's not been cared for.

lomb

When you think about it what is the point in regular servicing? People who buy used cars want to pay peanuts (me) and want the earth for it.Anyone who buys new cars generally is in a position to buy new every few years and that is what they usually do.
My advice is buy an ex UK with full history and money no object repairs/servicing.
Generally suspension bushes, shockers, balljoints, track rod ends, gaiters, calipers , exhausts, steering racks, electrics, dmfs, clutches, dpfs ,timing belts, water pumps, fuel pumps etc give up long before engines do( most around 80-100k miles ideal used car country) from a lack of proper oil/servicing. All are expensive to put right and absolutely none of them are replaced under normal dealer servicing.
People need to educate themselves as to what a good car is and spend 30 minutes checking out the above so you don't have to pay for them in your ownership if possible.
Of course the game has changed with manufacturers turbo charging and putting cam chains as opposed to timing belts in and these engines are more oil sensitive than older engines.
I suppose if you know little about cars then best buy something that's 3 or 4 years old with 60k on the clock and sell in 1-2 years before the above expenses kick in.

Geezy

Agreed that service book isnt the be all and end all... after all people can buy the books and stamps on ebay nowadays and fill them in themselves these day. Seller is a main Peugeot dealer (vw dealers are just too pricey even for 2nd hand) and comes with comprehensive year warranty. I would imagine if they had any reservations about putting their name to it they would sell it on through the trade instead. Is it common for independents to fill in and stamp service books. Just checked the service book on my current car and has no stamp from a reputable SIMI dealer who recently gave it a full service.

colm_mcm

If there is no service history or no receipts in the glovebox then really you're going to find it difficult to know what oil was used or how often. Unless the car markedly cheaper or better than others then why bother.

keithclancy

20000 km or every 4 months for me.

bazz26

Beer Assistant wrote: »

30,000km service intervals wow!

I do about 6,000km per year and religiously service every 5,000km.

So service once a year, self service no garage stamp or paper trail just piece of mind for myself. Just because it has no garage stamp doesn't mean it's not been cared for.

Yes but how would a potential buyer know for sure? Car could easily never had a service too, no evidence only the seller's word unless there are receipts for oil, parts, etc, purchased and used.

I know a stamped service book is not gospel and is easily forged but it is a point of reference along with receipts to query the garage that issued them and did the work.

Geezy

I'll call the volkswagen crowd that serviced the car january 2014 last year and the audi crowd who sold the car in 2010 to see if they have any further records that might not be in the service book. Will a motor check not shed anymore light on service visits?

CJhaughey

Geezy wrote: »

Will a motor check not shed anymore light on service visits?

Motorcheck only tells you if a car has finance owing,is/was stolen etc, its not a service record, Thats what the service record handbook is designed for.

Geezy

CJhaughey wrote: »

Motorcheck only tells you if a car has finance owing,is/was stolen etc, its not a service record, Thats what the service record handbook is designed for.

So how is the mileage recorded?

colm_mcm

The national mileage register is filled in by garages when servicing/repair is done but doesn't actually tell you what was done.

Geezy

Just did a motorcheck there and there was not one odometer reading which is a bit disappointing as I was hoping to find out a bit more to the vehicles history.

According to the service book it was serviced by a local VW Dealer in early 2014 but for whatever reason there was no reading.
I will call tomorrow to verify that it was actually serviced by the dealer at this time but it seems strange that it was not recorded. Would this be unusual?

Geezy

Just rang the dealer and they said it was in for a service on the date... just didn't show up on motorcheck. In fairness to motorcheck they offered to call the dealer for me and advised that their database is the most comprehenssive but reliant on third parties to input the details.

colm_mcm

How old is the car?

Geezy

colm_mcm wrote:

How old is the car?

2010... according to motorcheck it was registered to the first (original) owner on 02.09.10.

colm_mcm

Ok. Even if you get the last service details, there's still a large chunk (over 3 years) of the cars life unaccounted for.

If its a diesel then I'd be especially concerned.

Geezy

I have explained my concerns to the dealer and he said he has no doubt the car has been serviced regularly considering it's condition. He said he will contact the previous owner to see if they can offer more info by way of service history etc.

mgbgt1978

colm_mcm wrote: »

The national mileage register is filled in by garages when servicing/repair is done but doesn't actually tell you what was done.

I would say that most of the Mileage Records held by Cartell, etc are simply compiled by using the mileage entered by people when a Car check is requested.
The customer will enter the mileage shown on the Car at the present time and this is logged by Cartell.
Apart from this they usually tell you there is a discrepancy/issue with a car's mileage when it over/under their idea of average annual mileage for a particular model.
I've asked several of the Car Sales Guys that I used to work with and none of their Garages have ever given mileage data to any Car Check Companies. Although the mileage would be entered into their system at the time of servicing, they don't think that the Importers/Distributors share this info either.
They reckon that any 'Dealer input' is simply what mileage a Dealer enters when they themselves are doing a check.
I'm open to correction on this, but i don't think that the 'National Mileage Register' referred to by Cartell, etc is as sophisticated as it sounds.

Geezy

mgbgt1978 wrote:

I would say that most of the Mileage Records held by Cartell, etc are simply compiled by using the mileage entered by people when a Car check is requested. The customer will enter the mileage shown on the Car at the present time and this is logged by Cartell. Apart from this they usually tell you there is a discrepancy/issue with a car's mileage when it over/under their idea of average annual mileage for a particular model. I've asked several of the Car Sales Guys that I used to work with and none of their Garages have ever given mileage data to any Car Check Companies. Although the mileage would be entered into their system at the time of servicing, they don't think that the Importers/Distributors share this info either. They reckon that any 'Dealer input' is simply what mileage a Dealer enters when they themselves are doing a check. I'm open to correction on this, but i don't think that the 'National Mileage Register' referred to by Cartell, etc is as sophisticated as it sounds.

I think you might be right to be honest. I'm fairly confident about the mileage being a one owner car with quite high mileage anyway... I was more trying to find out how many times it was seen by a garage. I think in the UK the entire mileage check system is much more accurate. cartell and motorcheck are probably much more valuable when doing a UK vehicle check.