A service book is not a service history. The book is a piece of paper. The history is what the paper either tells you or fails to tell you, and learning to listen to the silences is most of the trick.
Buyers ask us, often, whether a car has "full service history". The honest answer is that very few cars do, and that what matters more is the quality of the service history. A car with six stamps from a main dealer and a seventh from an independent who clearly knew what he was doing — that is a service history. A car with twelve stamps from twelve different fast-fits, none with mileage recorded — that is a piece of paper.
What we look at
The first thing we look at is whether the mileage figures across the stamps are consistent with the dates. A 4,000-mile gap followed by a 32,000-mile gap is the sort of thing that needs explaining. Either the car sat for a year, or someone forgot to update the book, or — rarely — the odometer has been touched. We can usually tell which.
The second thing is whether the work done is consistent with the age. A petrol engine at 60,000 miles should have had a fresh set of plugs at some point. A direct-injection turbo at 70,000 miles should have had an intake-valve clean considered. The book may or may not tell you. The car itself usually will.
The third thing is whether the owners changed in a way that makes sense. A first-keeper retiring at 250,000 miles tells you one story. A car with seven keepers in nine years tells you another. Neither is a deal-breaker. Both deserve an explanation before we list the car.
WHAT A GOOD HISTORY LOOKS LIKE
Receipts. Dated. Itemised. With part numbers where relevant. A photograph of a recently-replaced clutch, kept on the owner's phone "for the next person". A handwritten note in the back of the book listing the date of every new battery. These are the marks of a person who has cared about the car not just owned it.
When we find a car like that, we usually buy it. When we find a car without, we usually do not. The papers, in the end, are a conversation with the previous owner — and what you are looking for is whether they sound like someone you would have got on with.
