When buying or selling a used car, having maintenance records is supremely important. It gives prospective buyers peace of mind knowing the car they’re about to purchase has been taken care of, and gives sellers the edge in price negotiations, because they can prove the car isn’t a huge hunk of neglected junk.
Of course, everyone is different when it comes to caring about maintenance. There are people in my life who won’t buy anything without seeing a thick stack of service records in the glovebox, even if the car looks and drives like new. At the same time, some people couldn’t care less about a bunch of fancy-looking documents accompanying the car, and assess it purely on how it runs and drives in the moment.
Most people, I assume, lie somewhere in between. Maintenance records certainly matter, but how much do they matter? Your bar for missing maintenance or repair items might be a lot higher if, say, you were a mechanic who planned to work on your own car than, say, a mom of three who just wants to make sure you have something reliable to get from A to B.
That leads me to today’s question:
What’s The Least Amount Of Maintenance History You’d Be Okay With When Buying a Used Car?
For me, it really all depends. When I think about buying a car, I consider it a big balancing act. If I’m paying a bunch of money, I want to know it’s been taken care of, so I’d expect at least some maintenance history, with the seller having addressed any major problems (or adjusted their price to reflect they haven’t addressed said problems).
On the other hand, if I’m paying $2,500 beater, it’s not reasonable to expect the seller to have a binder full of maintenance records going back to when the car was new. Usually, when I’m buying something that cheap, I don’t even ask about maintenance records—I usually just judge the car on vibes alone.
Where it gets murkier is in the middle. Let’s say I come across a car that’s sort of a good deal, but not a great deal. This is when maintenance records might actually sway my decision to buy a car. From there, it varies from car to car, depending on whether the car I’m buying has some catastrophic problem that, if left unaddressed, will cause some major damage (rod bearings for the E90-generation BMW M3 or the IMS bearing for 986-generation Porsche Boxster come to mind as widely known examples of this).
I want to know your thoughts. What’s the least amount of maintenance history you’d be willing to accept when buying a used car?
Top graphic image: Brian Silvestro
Meh, I assume any problem a vehicle has will give me the fun opportunity to fix it up. As long as it doesn’t have some egregious issue, I’m cool with no records as it tends to make the vehicle cheaper to buy. That said I’m happy to review records and I’m always curious if a clutch has been replaced in the recent past.
For example, I bought a 250k mile Jeep Comanche, it came with 15 years of service records from the Jeep dealership that owned it whom was using it as a parts running rig. I was happy to see in the records that the clutch had been done a thousand miles back on the odometer and also that they had installed from scratch, dealer AC. It definitely made the truck more valuable to me though I would have purchased it regardless. It still ran like junk owing to a loose intake manifold.
I start wanting a reasonable amount records when the price hits five figures. Below that I’ll take an extended test drive, a good flashlight and a borescope and see what I think.
To some degree it depends on the price. If I’m going to drop a lot of money on something I’d prefer it had at least some records. But if it’s a beater, I just assume the worst and decide if I’d still want it.
I am perfectly fine with none at all. History is a nice to have, not a prerequisite. Though I find a definite positive correlation between stacks of records and condition of the car. But at the end of the day, all that matters is the current condition of the car.
My cars have records like they are commercial airplanes – for the cars that have been sold to dealers or traded, they actively did not want them. I was pleasantly surprised that when I bought my BMW convertible used from the BMW dealer in Wichita, that it DID come with all the records, just with the previous owner’s name redacted. Helped that it was all done at BMW dealerships. Same with my Mercedes wagon, another dealer frequent flyer right down to having Star-marked Michelins and Mercedes branded wiper blades, though I bought it from a used car dealer that bought it from Mercedes. So I guess that is the exception? But Carvana, Carmax, and the VW dealer I traded my last BMW to had no interest in the records.
When I bought my m6, it was from a dealer and they didn’t have the records, but my bmw dealer SA was able to pull everything done under warranty to the car from the vehicle vin since it was stored by BMW. Since the previous owner had bought service contracts after the warranty period from bmw, I could get those too. Was definitely enough to see that he had taken care of the car.
For sure, some dealers are willing to do that. But many will not citing privacy concerns. Independent businesses and all that.
I tend to default to the observable details of the current vehicle condition. I’d say it depends on the price of the car too. The $400 Subaru my son got as a winter beater was nice because it started and moved under it’s own power. A low bar. We did need to do rear brakes and lines, and the oil pan was leaking due to rust. Some JB weld and a DIY skid plate fixed the oil pan (the bolts to remove it were too rusty to hassle with). For his C6 Corvette, I looked at the last service records to determine it had been taken care of fairly well about 1.5 years prior. But the next owner had done zero service on it and I was able to haggle.
I think since most of the cars I buy used are “cheap”, I don’t worry too much about paperwork or pedigree. I don’t feel that I should own a nice car. I’d stress about condition and scratches too much to enjoy it.
It really depends on the car. If all the maintenance is cheap and easy, a “trust me, I did the oil change on time every time” works for me, but if the parts are expensive or the work is really involved, I want a full binder. My wife’s CR-V’s service history is a nod and a handshake, my Boxster has a full folder. I end up doing a lot more work on her car due to the higher mileage/worse condition, but it’ll be a complete Ship of Theseus before it becomes a big issue.
Maintenance records are a big part of the roadster appeal for me, for every clapped out 328i you can find on marketplace there are 3 garage-kept Z3 3.0’s with a full binder attached and the same asking price.
I generally try to avoid cars that require big maintenance.
Give me a book like I have for mine and I’ll be very happy. I’m surprised that other posters are willing to accept less.
Because it’s nearly impossible to find anyone who does that? There aren’t many people who save every receipt and manual/booklet, provide a copy of the FSM, multiple UOA results, and spare parts and maintenance items.
The last used car I bought had zero records, but was a fleet vehicle (local municipal water company); the tires were bald and the belt was split lengthwise, but it drove well and looked great. Spending $3300 on a clean ’98 C1500 was a no-brainer, even in 2010. Later I did try to retrieve records from the water co but they’d already trashed them.
At some point you just expect and understand you’re going to have to do some maintenance. All of the records in the world don’t mean squat for a 20+ year old vehicle. They can help, but stuff’s still gonna break.
Even if someone does that it might not make it to the buyer. When I sold my Corvette it had basically everything for records it could going back to the second owner who bought it in 1997 (so just as it was coming off warranty, probably). I continued maintaining that, keeping basically every receipt I had for it including even stuff like multiple alignments when i was chasing a suspension issue.
The dealer I sold it to told me that they would pass along the information of the maintenance to the next owner, but they were going to throw all the actual paperwork out because of all of the personal information it had.
We must be buying different types of vehicles since I’ve never gotten or seen a book of receipts and records with any of the many vehicles I’ve owned over the past 35 years of driving. Sometimes good records won’t matter it there is a critical rust spot or some major service that is due that will be very expensive.
In fairness I have only bought 3 cars in my long life as I lived in NYC for 35 years. It makes sense that I’m OCD as a result.
I have never even thought about maintenance records when buying a car. The only way I would is if I was buying something that had a special high-dollar or high-effort maintenance item that could need to be done.
None of the 40+ cars that I have bought or any of the others I’ve considered buying would have required maintenance records to make it a done deal.
It honestly just a plus when I get them.
I bought a $1800 ZJ that had 220k on them and got every service record from when it was new.
I bought a JKU and had every service record for it possible. Guess what, 2 months later the oil cooler still went out. lol
I can generally tell if its been well maintained when I check it out and at this point I’m just looking for an oil change sticker in the window. I’m going to try to baseline every other fluid within 6 months so that doesn’t matter.
I mean, it depends on the money. My Vibe? They gave us a carfax with all the oil changes and whatnot listed. Mustang? Dealer records. Chevelle? Restoration photos.
The 800 dollar comanche? a ‘Heck yeah I changed the oil brother, we did it when I spraypainted it and put on the murican flags’ was the only record we got.
$800 Comanche, you did well. Mine was $9800 with 250k miles on it. That said it was also the dream spec truck I spent three years wearing for, a 90 Eliminator with an AX-15, 4×4, AC, bucket seats, full gauges and a fresh amature paint job rocking new graphics.
Keep enjoying yours! They are the best little trucks.
I do love mine- I had only 2 requirements, but I wish I had waited for more! No rust and AC. I got those, but wish it was a 4wd model, especially a 91/92. But at least being 2wd, it wasnt flogged on.
…you’re supposed to want service records when buying a car? Oh, this is news to me. lol
(as answer to the question, not dismissive of the premise:)
w/e
I assume everything is ready to explode and will be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t.
That said, if it comes with Senturys, Westlakes, or SureDrives, I have a very, very good read onto how much money you spent on maintenance (zero).
Broader wisdom:
If you want to know how much money someone thinks they have, look at their car.
If you want to know how much money someone has, look at the tires.
There may be outliers to this:
https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/jay-leno-needs-about-1200-tires/
Thanks for sharing that excellent read, from Jay Leno himself!
Oh, I agree. More like – just two days ago we put $180 worth of tires on a 2018 or so Mercedes-Benz S550, and it is not remotely the only such story.
Very good wisdom there. My neighbors are vain and drive silly vehicles. I have used cars and sets of nice wheels and tires for each of my vehicles. Winter and summer, daily and track.
You’re welcome 🙂
No track rubber here, but of course I‘ve got winter tires for my MR2 roadster.
Mr2, Mister2. A solid choice and a very underrated car. I saw a K-swapped one at Gridlife Lime Rock last year. It was amazing. I’ve got a 2.5 swapped and turboed NC Miata. It’s the yacht Miata, but still only weighs 2450lbs. Not too shabby.
If they provide service records, good. It gives me an idea what will break next.
If none I just do a good inspection and put money aside for future repairs.
None. Caveat Emptor.
I have bought with no service records on multiple occasions. BUT: I research the hell out of whatever car interests me. I ask pointed questions about known issues. And I’ll get a pre-purchase inspection. All of these have saved me in the past.
But even with all of the records and research in the world, you can still get burned.
This is how I’ve had to do it before once. 3 of my cars have had extensive maintenance records, in all instances dating back a dozen+ years. One of them was off lease so it was still under factory warranty. One of them didn’t have anything, and I had to cram up.
Maintenance records are great but knowing what the problem areas of that car are and asking specific questions about them can be just as good. If the seller doesn’t know or is evasive, walk.
None. I can spot if it’s been cared for. But only because I’m on my number 42 now 😉
I genuenly don’t understand how this can be true.
Either you have bought 42 cars and they all broke down, so you know for sure you can pick the crap ones.
Or you own them for a few months and sell them on, knowing little more of the cars in question.
There is no possibility of you buying 42 cars, and then driving and owning them for multiple years each, learning where they were treated wrong.
My point was that only experience can teach you what to avoid.
Oh, well in that case i disagree.
I think a lot can be learned by a 5 min. internet scroll.
How to recognize if an engine had its oil changes. If the brakes will need care in the near future. Wheather you need to calculate in things like a new turbo, distribution belt or clutch.
If you only rely on building expirience by just buying random cars and seeing whether they brake or not, your knowledge will grow to slow.
Like how my grandfather knew how to avoid a car with bad ignition points by the time no car had ignition points anymore.
None.
To me the best record of work is the car itself. Oh, look it’s a Range Rover with 380k miles. Not a single record of even an oil change. Well someone did SOMETHING to this thing to get that many miles on it. Oh, it runs perfectly and doesn’t leak a drop of oil? Someone has loved this vehicle.
Oh, here’s a Corolla with 90k miles and they have records of oil changes every 5k miles. Sounds good. Take it for a test drive and you can’t breath from the smell and the truck shows 9 bottles of Marvel Mystery Oil and STP and the car is still leaving a trail like a snail? Me-thinks someone is lying about oil changes and perhaps the little old lady only taking it to church.
Or they rolled back the odometer.
Listen. That Range Rover did a lot of church miles, okay? So what if it’s only seven years old and has 245k miles and there are empty Lucas bottles rolling around in the back and is that a Prestone 50/50 bottle which was definitely not used in this coolant loop and the AC just needs a charge, ok, and look that air filter (was going in five/ten/fifteen thousand miles ago) is included with purchase, a literally $20 savings!
I figure for a Range Rover to have 380k miles and still run perfectly, it had to have a lot of church mileage, because it must be running on Holy Water and driven by a saint.
Even Tacomas feel beat to hell with that many miles, even when treated well.