Is it really that hard to keep a record of your car’s maintenance??

[Hodgo88]

Old man rant incoming

Why does every used vehicle I look at have no maintenance record? What are people doing with their invoices after they get their car serviced? Or to write a log of oil changes the owner performed?

I’m not just talking about budget cars. Even when I was shopping for a Porsche, where buyers are notoriously needy about getting PPIs and DME reports, the records were lacking.

It’s an expensive and rapidly depreciating asset. I would pay a premium for a well maintained car but it is so, so rare to find a glovebox full of documented services. CarFax does not fill in the gaps. I just want to know that the prior owner didn’t run the car into the ground, is that too much to ask?

 

[Blackmore Fan]

I'm never late with car maintenance. But I can't stand being handed 3 pages of "stuff" for an oil change. That crap gets thrown away. When I buy new tires, I hang on to the receipt for warranty use...but it gets moved out of the car and once a year or two passes I lose track of it. I'm just not into keeping a "record" of the car--I'm too busy for that.

 

[howardlo]

Depending on how long you own the car it could get to be a lot of paperwork, etc.

My last car I kept for twenty years (only 56,000 miles). But had I kept invoices for oil changes, tire rotations, filter changes, normal scheduled maintenance, miscellaneous repairs, and everything else it wouldn’t have fit in the glovebox. It would have required a large file container in the trunk.

 

[Mjark]

I let the dealer keep the record.

 

[String Tree]

It is for me.
NEXT!!!

 

[Monoprice99]

A lot of cars are leases, the dealership does that. For other cars, same holds with the warranty period. After a warranty, some maintain their own vehicle and that's the crap shoot on getting a history of the maintenance & repair record. Always has been like that, except now a used car is quite an expensive purchase in comparison to what it used to be.

 

[Lonn]

I keep all receipts and maintain oil changes on both cars religiously. Or so I thought. I was driving my wife's Infiniti a couple of weeks ago and noticed the oil change sticker said it needed to be changed 15k miles ago! I though NO WAY I've gone that long without changing it so I called the dealer and asked the mileage and date the last time I was in. It had been a year and 18k miles!!! I'm still stunned at how that happened.

 

[CharlieO]

I'm never late with car maintenance. But I can't stand being handed 3 pages of "stuff" for an oil change. That crap gets thrown away. When I buy new tires, I hang on to the receipt for warranty use...but it gets moved out of the car and once a year or two passes I lose track of it. I'm just not into keeping a "record" of the car--I'm too busy for that.

You're too busy to stuff papers into a file folder and put the file into a drawer? Seriously?

 

[JIMMY JAZZMAN]

Say what? I have e-mails from the dealer, that tells me what's what. Then if I need the dreaded paperwork,
I kindly ask the dealer for a print-out of all maintenance performed on the vehicle.

 

[CharlieO]

I keep all receipts and maintain oil changes on both cars religiously. Or so I thought. I was driving my wife's Infiniti a couple of weeks ago and noticed the oil change sticker said it needed to be changed 15k miles ago! I though NO WAY I've gone that long without changing it so I called the dealer and asked the mileage and date the last time I was in. It had been a year and 18k miles!!! I'm still stunned at how that happened.

Your Infiniti doesn't keep track of when an oil change is due? I have owned four higher level cars over the past 15 years, and all of them have an oil life indicator in the dash cluster. How old is your Infiniti?

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

Mrs. Roadie's glove box is filled with oil change & parts receipts. We have been fortunate to not have needed major repairs. My car is a bicycle as we live very close to my Land of Employment.

 

[Colo Springs E]

I just want to know that the prior owner didn’t run the car into the ground, is that too much to ask?

Yep.

 

[ChicknPickn]

I acknowledge that the Orwellian Man continues to invade my privacy. But the service center I use reports all maintenance performed on my Chrysler 300 to CarFax as well as future maintenance recommended by Chrysler. It tells me the car's resale value based on mileage and maintenance performed. It even reminds me of upcoming dates for state inspection and registration renewal. I don't mind it so much.

 

[Kandinskyesque]

I used to keep a small notebook in the glovebox back in the 90s/00s where every service, tyre change etc was noted, I'd also get the garage to stamp the logbook.

Plus, I'd note the mileage when I filled the car up with fuel (usually every Monday and Friday morning).
However, I was using my car for work purposes and was given a generous £0.50 per mile and if I was going straight to a site from home only the first 15 miles (home to office distance) was taxable.

I did enough miles per month to cover the car loan (5%APR loan through my work's union) plus servicing, road tax and insurance.
I kept the habit up after leaving that job in '98 right up until around 2010.

These days we lease our cars with a maintenance contract (an extra £40 per month) which covers everything including wiper blades, tyres and even bulbs.
The cars get handed back after 3 years.

I made the mistake of buying a rebuilt modified Mitsubishi L200 truck in 2021 which is sitting in the truck builder's warehouse in England and in these economically trying times is proving very difficult to sell.
I'll probably end up cutting my losses and selling it for whatever is left on the car loan.

I think from now on I'll just lease cars but also buy a cheap 'toolbox' runaround van from the car auctions for me and my son's dirty jobs.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

The last 2 or 3 cars, I have really tried to stay on top of scheduled maintenance or fixing anything asap.

( we have only ever bought used, and $$ always tight, so stayng on top of car repairs has been tough- better now)

We only go to our local family-run mechanic, now, for over 35 years. We trust them 100% and they have our car's history and I keep receipts in order.

Finding a garage you trust is awesome!

 

[Fenderbaum]

All modern cars tell you when you are due for service..
No issue here.

 

[Tubedrt3000]

Unless you're doing your own maintenance, dealerships and many "oil change" places submit all info to Carfax. Every service I have had done on my vehicles is on the Carfax report.

​

 

[Colo Springs E]

Unless you're doing your own maintenance, dealerships and many "oil change" places submit all info to Carfax. Every service I have had done on my vehicles is on the Carfax report.

​

Almost nothing I've had done ends up on carfax, including dealer servicing/repairs. It's hit or miss on carfax.

 

[Flat6Driver]

Old man rant incoming

Why does every used vehicle I look at have no maintenance record? What are people doing with their invoices after they get their car serviced? Or to write a log of oil changes the owner performed?

I’m not just talking about budget cars. Even when I was shopping for a Porsche, where buyers are notoriously needy about getting PPIs and DME reports, the records were lacking.

It’s an expensive and rapidly depreciating asset. I would pay a premium for a well maintained car but it is so, so rare to find a glovebox full of documented services. CarFax does not fill in the gaps. I just want to know that the prior owner didn’t run the car into the ground, is that too much to ask?

This is 20 year of records on a now 40 year old car. I keep it all. BUT, for stuff you buy off a dealer, it often goes right in the trash. I looked at a used truck and the owners manual had the dates of all the oil changes written in the back in pen.

 

[Powdog]

I’ve maintained my own cars most of my life. As a young man, whenever I bought a car I would also buy a Haynes/Clymer or factory shop book. I would note any service or repair on the inside on the cover or one of the blank pages noting the date and mileage. I was pretty OCD about it.

At some point I hung a dry erase board in the garage and started keeping maintenance records for all the vehicles there. As time went on all I would really update was oil changes, erasing the last one.

I’m 61 now and retired. I take the cars in for oil changes and most big repairs. Bad back precludes me from lying on the concrete (or a creeper) for any extended period anymore. I keep shop record receipts in the glove box for reference but otherwise just watch the date on the sticker they leave on the windshield. Still do my own brake jobs, battery maintenance and small stuff but dont keep records anymore. I just replace/repair as needed. Replacing a quick disconnect heater hose adapter this morning on my ‘07 Escalade. When did they start using these? I was expecting to see a heater hose clamped directly to the heater core.