Service History Issues

[AREA]

Thanks AREA!

That's why I want to build something that return the ownership of service history back to the car owners.


We upload the receipts/ services we paid for and ensure it's as accurate as possible, while still having the benefit of digital record (easy to share & preserve etc)


Would you use it?

Would I use it a service such as you've described? No.

I have a dozen cars with likelihood of more to come. With insurance, tax, service, MOT, AA cover, etc. there's always some activity on the horizon, getting on for around fifty 'admin events' a year. I therefore use a spreadsheet as a year planner with a printed copy on the wall of my study to show at a glance what's coming along (May is very expensive). I use Omnifocus to provide reminders two weeks in advance. I also use these two tools to cover house insurance, health insurance, pet insurance, horse insurances = all those commitments that you don't want to accidentally forget about. Importantly, the wife can easily see these as well should something happen to me; insurance cover is pretty high up the list of things my wife needs to make sure continue if I'm six foot under. The reminder function of what I think you're suggesting has no benefit to me.

Insurance documents are also saved to shared Dropbox folders so family members can pull them up whenever required.

In terms of saving service records? Again, no. I scan in the paperwork, OCR and file it to DevonThink. I can find anything I want simply and quickly. For instance, if I want to see every service that had operation AP00.20-P-0054EW signed off as performed (actually, this has been more important that you could imagine) it's a simple query.


I understand why you feel there is a need, and there is. But there are tools that are happily doing it, and more, already.

 

[EndlessMoneyPit]

When I traded in my 190e after owning it for 21 years, I gave the salesman a comprehensive service history including all replacements and repairs. The 190e was bought by a mechanic who worked at the same dealership. Sometime after, I was talking to the mechanic about how he was getting on with my old 190e and he asked me when the transmission fluid was last changed. I said it's on the service history. He hadn't been given it, the salesman had dumped the lot. Fortunately I had it all recorded on a spreadsheet so I e-mailed him the file.

That's ridiculous and an absolute shame. Is this a recent thing? I bought an old car in October, It came with a thick file of history. Maybe I just got lucky.

 

[Benz17]

When i PX my W211 for my W213 at Mercedes dealer in 2019, it was 12 years old, and had approx 128k miles, as others I had a large file, with all service records, and parts invoices, the salesman never even looked at it. I am assuming service records only matter to dealers on newish cars, which they put on their forecourt.

 

[BigJase88]

When i PX my W211 for my W213 at Mercedes dealer in 2019, it was 12 years old, and had approx 128k miles, as others I had a large file, with all service records, and parts invoices, the salesman never even looked at it. I am assuming service records only matter to dealers on newish cars, which they put on their forecourt.

Yeah they don't give a monkeys. Straight to auction they go

 

[thomasyan777]

You can get the worst of both worlds by just taking a photo of every receipt and storing them in electronic form in a place of your choice.
Eg a Dropbox directory or iCloud. The data is then yours and yours alone and you are not trusting some unknown or even know device provider. I think we’re trying to overthink this.

Thanks DrNick

But if I tell you that uploading these documents to a platform can save your insurance money next year.
Would you upload?

 

[thomasyan777]

DSB history does not include other repair work either.

Exactly BlackC55

That's the reason why I have an idea to build a platform to allow car owners to upload everything they do in one place.
In this way, it would ensure the history of this car fully transparent and traceable.
Also much easier to share with potential buyers and transfer to the new owners.

Would you like to use it if it exists?

 

[thomasyan777]

When I traded in my 190e after owning it for 21 years, I gave the salesman a comprehensive service history including all replacements and repairs. The 190e was bought by a mechanic who worked at the same dealership. Sometime after, I was talking to the mechanic about how he was getting on with my old 190e and he asked me when the transmission fluid was last changed. I said it's on the service history. He hadn't been given it, the salesman had dumped the lot. Fortunately I had it all recorded on a spreadsheet so I e-mailed him the file.

This is soooo annoying!
That's the reason why I want to build this platform having the ability to block all the personal info from the paperwork.
So it would be much easier to share with future car owners while adhering to GDPR rules.

Do you think you would upload everything onto this platform and passing it along?

 

[thomasyan777]

When i PX my W211 for my W213 at Mercedes dealer in 2019, it was 12 years old, and had approx 128k miles, as others I had a large file, with all service records, and parts invoices, the salesman never even looked at it. I am assuming service records only matter to dealers on newish cars, which they put on their forecourt.

But I think it matters to a lot of private owners, therefore I hate what they did here.
To me the service history is like the story of the car, the sales basically throw away the entire story of the car and left it with "no souls"!

That's why I want to build this platform that has the functionality of uploading all your documents while blocking out your personal info.
So it would be much easier to pass along.

Would you upload all your documents if it exists? Cheers

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

But if I tell you that uploading these documents to a platform can save your insurance money next year.
Would you upload?

What would be in it for the insurance company?

 

[thomasyan777]

What would be in it for the insurance company?

By providing an additional service history data point, they can evaluate your risk more accurately.
If better service history = less risk, they would be able to reduce your insurance premium.
Hence leads to more customer.

It's a positive cycle for them. I have already talked to some insurance company willing to work with me, but I am struggling to get car owners uploading their data

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

By providing an additional service history data point, they can evaluate your risk more accurately.
If better service history = less risk, they would be able to reduce your insurance premium.
Hence leads to more customer.

It's a positive cycle for them. I have already talked to some insurance company willing to work with me, but I am struggling to get car owners uploading their data

Well done if you’ve managed to get an insurance company to do that, however I’m surprised that they believe that it will reduce the risk sufficiently - and that it will generate enough business for them - to be able to offer a discount.

Good luck with your platform

 

[markjay]

By providing an additional service history data point, they can evaluate your risk more accurately.
If better service history = less risk, they would be able to reduce your insurance premium.
Hence leads to more customer.

It's a positive cycle for them. I have already talked to some insurance company willing to work with me, but I am struggling to get car owners uploading their data

Insurance companies are essentially glorified bookies, they have departments full of people who do risk analysis and work out odds and probabilities etc. Buy they are number crunchers who need data - and unless there's statistical data to show an inverse correlation between servicing and claims, then this won't be considered I'm afraid.

 

[BlackC55]

Exactly BlackC55

That's the reason why I have an idea to build a platform to allow car owners to upload everything they do in one place.
In this way, it would ensure the history of this car fully transparent and traceable.
Also much easier to share with potential buyers and transfer to the new owners.

Would you like to use it if it exists?

It already exists. There is a pop up Instagram ad for such a system that I see occasionally.