Why is a service history important?

The better you look after a car the better it will look after you. Regular servicing is vital to ensuring that a car remains well maintained, reliable and retains its value in line with market trends.

A vehicles service intervals and servicing schedules are carefully worked out by the engineers during the vehicles design phase to ensure that all the components get the maintenance they need and that the vehicle remains reliable and functions as it should throughout its lifespan. It is therefore critical that these parameters are adhered to.

A full service history is proof that all routine servicing and maintenance has been carried out at the correct intervals according to the manufacturers schedule. This can be in the form of stamps in a service book, invoices for work done or a digital record stored on the manufacturers database.

It ensures reliability

Adherence to the vehicles servicing schedule is critical in ensuring that a car remains problem free and as reliable as it was designed to be. Regular servicing can also have an effect on the vehicles fuel economy and with the fuel price these days, nobody can afford to use any more fuel than necessary.

A service history shows you how the car was cared for

When shopping for a pre-owned car, a service history is important because it shows you how the car was cared for. Regularly servicing of a vehicle is one of the most basic maintenance principles and if an owner fails to do that, they most probably neglected other car care practices too.

It goes hand in hand with the vehicles warranty

Servicing your vehicle according to the manufacturers service schedule is a condition of your vehicles warranty. This applies whether the vehicle is sold with a service plan or without. If services are missed and something goes wrong, while the vehicle is under warranty, the manufacturer could refuse to cover it under their warranty.

Prevention is better than cure

When a vehicle is serviced it gives the technician time to inspect the vehicle from front to back for any additional issues that might need attention. It is always a good idea to fix such issues before they become bigger problems that could leave you stranded on the side of the road. 

It adds value

A full service history, especially at the franchised dealer, is still held in high regard in the pre-owned market and is a great way of ensuring that you get the best price for your car when the time comes to sell. Apart from a full service history it is also a good idea to keep a record of any other vehicle expenditure, such as irregular maintenance, brakes, shocks and tyres as this could be of great value to prospective buyers.