How much does home servicing affect resale value?

[Steve Blackdog 687]

My 2 year warranty is about to expire, so I have been thinking I should start servicing the bike myself.  It looks pretty easy to work on, but I wonder if the savings will be outweighed by reduced resale value.

 

Ironically, if I do the work myself, I will be able to vouch for everything and will know that corners have not been cut.

 

What d'ya reckon folks?

[scara 354]

Steve, whether it be a car or bike, when my warranty expires I always do all my own servicing, keep every receipt and I even fill in the sections in the service book, clearly marking that it is self serviced and attaching the receipts. I have to be honest and say it never has seemed to effect any part ex/sales values when I have parted with the said vehicles. I'm sure some will disagree but that's my take on it. People can genuinely see what work has been done.

[wozza 967]

At the end of the day most second hand bike values drop like a stone in the first 2-3 years. I can't see much difference in actual value in real terms if you do your own servicing. Especially if you think what you're saving in servicing\Labour charges it may balance out in your favour.

[ted 5,743]

After the warranty has expired, as they have got us on that one! I'd sooner have a bike that has been looked after by the person that has ridden it and loved it.

 

No shop mechanic will really care about the bike they are working on.

[Guest Pompeylad174]

I always do my own servicing as I think that main agents charge far too much. I fill in the service book and keep the receipts ... never had an issue with selling my bikes.  

[Guest jorgegofio]

I'd do the servicing myself if I was savvy enough.

[Guest bonekicker]

If you want to pay someone £89 for changing oil and filter take it to dealers or do it youself for £32, it won't make any difference in resale value.

[Guest rikki]

Two years ago I bought 2003 MZ Baghira. The gentleman I bought it from had keep it in great condition and also had most of the purchase receipts for the bits he'd bought for the bike while he owned it. But what impressed me most was his knowledge of the bike and when he showed me some of the extra parts I would get with the bike. He took me to his workshop (a shed) which was impressively well organized and tidy. That made me more confident and backed my belief in his knowledge and the care he had for that bike. I've since sold the bike and each person that asked me about the service history. Although I couldn't show them the wonderful workshop the last guy had I could only show the them TLC I put into the bike and in a way spoke for it's self and hoped that what knowledge I had of the bike helped to sell it to the confidence of the buyer.

Of course if your sell it to the trade. They take it at face value.

[Mike5100 2,061]

Looking at it from the other end of the telescope, I think I would be more convinced by the owner who had taken the trouble to fill in the service booklet and in particular filed all the receipts for the oil and plugs etc.  Although the materials used are often listed out on a dealer's service sheet/invoice the oil type in particular is not generally shown .... and anyway I don't always believe that the dealer has done everything they say they have done so what's the difference between a dealer stamp and a owner entry in the service record.

Taking the concept a bit further - maybe I will keep a spreadsheet that shows everything about the bike - when the tyres were changed and why, any glitches that were fixed under warranty, any things that I fitted and why .... and obviously with the mileages next to those entries.  A potential purchaser could then see how long the tyres were lasting and the chain and sprockets.  Might as well combine it with a print out from Fuelly and then he could see the true mpg.  

There would be minuses to this approach of course but I bet honesty would win out and you'd make the sale

Mike

[nelmo 563]

I part-ex'd my V-Strom last November - I had serviced it myself from 40k miles up to the 96k miles I owned it for and the dealer didn't care one bit (he was more concerned about the mileage).

 

I part-ex'd my Versys in February - it had the first 2 services done by the dealer and I had done the last one - again, the dealer never suggested it was a problem. Again, it was the high mileage (18k for a 3 year-old bike) that concerned him most.

 

Definitely worth getting a couple of dealer stamps in there early on but afterwards, not an issue if you're only going to part-ex.

 

However, private buyers might be more picky - a full SH will definitely improve your sale price but not enough to outweigh the savings you will have made by home servicing.

 

Having said that, my last car had 100k miles on it when I bought it and I only took the risk because it had a full service history. However, cars are more difficult to home service, IMO - they depend too much on diagnostic computers which is tricky to do yourself.

Edited April 3, 2014 by nelmo

[Guest bonekicker]

I asked the valet guy at dealers what happens if customers service book is not up to date, the office just stamp it up to date he said, that's what we allways do.

[nelmo 563]

I asked the valet guy at dealers what happens if customers service book is not up to date, the office just stamp it up to date he said, that's what we allways do.

 

Yeah, I imagined that might happen - which is partly why I write in my service book when I do any work...

[dandemann8 776]

After my first service with Honda I will also be doing my own servicing and make entries of my own in the service book backed up with all receipts...

[embee 7,288]

I think it's all been said. I always do all my vehicle servicing wherever possible, haven't had to resort to a Dealer yet, and if there was anything I couldn't do I'd use my tame MOT chap who I trust completely. Keep a record of what you do.

 

Like the others say, if you can explain what's been done and show the care then it's unlikely to be an issue with a private sale. Depends a bit how long you intend to keep it and then how you intend to sell/trade it I suppose.

[beep 1,232]

I'm in the same situation, just had my last dealer service, to keep the warranty up to date. My plan is to do what I did with my last bike and only use a more local Suzuki dealer to do the MOT and tyre changes. This worked fine with my last bike and didn't seem to affect the trade-in price.

 

The closest practical Honda dealer is just too much hassle to get to, the extra time I spend servicing the bike is saved by not having to travel to the dealers and I avoid the additional risk of being tempted to buy another bike  

 

There's also the added benefit of knowing that the bike has the right amount of oil in it - something most dealers seem to get wrong most of the time!

[Guest spikidave]

I always do my own servicing, however as this is the first new bike I've owned I reluctantly took it to the dealer for its first service only because it would invalidate the warranty if I didn't. Being a perfectionist, I checked their work. Oil as always overfilled, lower fairing screw misaligned. It's simple things like that, that make me angry and feel ripped off. Luckily, the next service isn't due until 8000 miles. I won't have done that before the warranty runs out. So future servicing is mine and done properly. As others do, I sign the service book and keep the receipts.

[Mike5100 2,061]

I always do my own servicing, however as this is the first new bike I've owned I reluctantly took it to the dealer for its first service only because it would invalidate the warranty if I didn't. Being a perfectionist, I checked their work. Oil as always overfilled, lower fairing screw misaligned. It's simple things like that, that make me angry and feel ripped off. Luckily, the next service isn't due until 8000 miles. I won't have done that before the warranty runs out. So future servicing is mine and done properly. As others do, I sign the service book and keep the receipts.

hmmmm .... It's probably annually or 8000 whichever comes first to strictly keep within the warranty terms (but I might be wrong as I can't find my book at the moment)

Mike

[Guest chosenone]

do it yourself if you know what you are doing