Service History Check
Are you planning on buying a used car? Before you trade in your current vehicle or hand over your hard-earned cash make sure you’ve checked the service history.
The vehicle service history should tell you everything that has happened with that vehicle to date – including the number of previous owners, mileage and any faults and repair work that has been carried out.
So why is this important? Knowing how well a vehicle has been looked after – or hasn’t – helps you decide on whether your choice of car is a sensible purchase. You also want to make sure that the seller isn’t hiding any crucial information from you.
Unfortunately, fake service history is still quite common in the UK, therefore it is worth following the steps below to know how to spot a red flag.
How to check the service history of a car?
The bad news is that there isn’t a central database of service history as there is for MOTs. This means there are only two ways to find out the actual service history:
- Ask the car owner to show you the vehicle’s service history if he/she has the service book or invoices
- Contact the garage/dealership where the vehicle gets serviced
The good news: you can verify most of it yourself. For newer cars, ask a franchised dealer for the digital service record — most manufacturers stopped stamping paper books in the mid-2010s and hold service histories online, so “no book” isn’t automatically “no history”. And whatever the seller shows you, cross-check it against the car’s free MOT history: the mileage recorded at each test should line up with the mileages in the service stamps. When they don’t, one of them is lying — and either way, you’ve just gained negotiating power. A car due a major service or repair is a price-haggling opportunity, or a job for the seller to sort before you buy.
How do you spot fake service history?
- Ask to see the service book or invoices — and for newer cars, ask for the digital service record from a franchised dealer.
- Check the mileages in the stamps against the car’s free MOT history — they should tell the same story.
- Note the garages named in the stamps and check they genuinely exist online.
- Phone one or two of them and ask to confirm the work — a real garage can, a faked stamp can’t.
What is a full service history?
Full service history (FSH) means that the vehicle has been serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s service schedule. This usually means that all of the paperwork is available and that the service book has been stamped to show any work carried out by the garage. If a car has been serviced at the approved manufacturer or dealer for every service, rather than an independent garage, this is classed as having a full dealer service history.
If a car doesn’t have a complete service history, or the work has been carried out a a non-approved garage, then it will only have a partial service history.
Why is full service history so important?
A well-maintained car will depreciate less and is also likely to cost you less in the future. When you buy a car with a full service history, any repairs or work to the vehicle will have been carried out to the manufacturer’s requirements. As such, there is less chance of something going wrong.
If however, you are looking to save yourself a few bucks, a partial or missing service history can be an opportunity! On average, used car buyers expect to see 20 percent discount on a vehicle without a full service history.
What should a service history look like? And when is the service due?
Service intervals vary by manufacturer — typically every 12 months or 9,000–12,000 miles, whichever comes first, with a bigger “major” service every second visit. Our guide to when your car service is due explains the schedules in detail.
And remember the service history is only one strand of a car’s story. Before buying, run a free car check to confirm the rest of it — outstanding finance, write-offs and mileage discrepancies are exactly the things a tidy service book can distract you from.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I check the service history of a car?
There is no central public database of service records the way there is for MOTs. Ask the seller for the stamped service book or invoices, and for newer cars ask a franchised dealer to pull the digital service record — most manufacturers moved to online records in the mid-2010s, so a missing paper book isn't automatically a red flag.
How can I get service records for a used car?
Ask the owner for the book and invoices, then verify: phone the garages named in the stamps and ask them to confirm the work. For cars with digital service records, any franchised dealer for that make can usually print the history. Cross-check the story against the car's free MOT history — the recorded mileages should line up with the service stamps.
What counts as full service history (FSH)?
A car serviced on schedule for its whole life, with the paperwork to prove it. If every service was done by an approved manufacturer dealer it's a full dealer service history (FDSH), the most valuable kind. Missing services, or work done off-schedule, make it a partial service history — worth a meaningful discount on the price.