Do you keep your receipts?!

Captain Slow IRL

Still on the lookout for a car for the mrs. and I've a good few people harassed about their cars by now. One thing I noticed is that not a lot of people like to keep receipts for any work they've had carried out, especially the bigger work like a timing belt or a clutch. Tippex marks on the engine don't necessarily mean you've had the belt changed, it's easy to write that down :rolleyes:

I don't know if I'm the oddball but I keep all receipts and stick them in the glovebox, if there's no service booklet; at least I've something to back up my claims.

Anyone in a similiar boat?!

MuppetCheck

Receipts for everything are put in with the service history. I was handed them back though when I traded my last car in as the had address details on them. I assume they would have been dumped otherwise.

Matt Simis

OSI wrote: »

I keep every receipt. Even for smaller things like tyres and brake pads. It shows a much more involved ownership of the car.

Me too.

Captain Slow IRL

Do I call bullsh*t then?! I've travelled a lot to look at different cars, some absolute hapes that were described as immaculate. All the same story; "my mechanic did it, he doesn't do receipts" or something very similiar.

The worst one I experienced was a while back when I was looking for one myself - buying it off a young mechanic who swore that he replaced the clutch but when I drove it, it felt like it was slipping:rolleyes: No receipt but I had his "word".

On the other hand, I was selling a car last year and was showing the buyer the receipts - I'd mileage and date written on each receipt that the part was fitted. He thought I was an accountant with my filing method!

djimi

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Do I call bullsh*t then?! I've travelled a lot to look at different cars, some absolute hapes that were described as immaculate. All the same story; "my mechanic did it, he doesn't do receipts" or something very similiar.

Certain things I would never take anyones word on; ie if I was buying a car that had no evidence of having had the timing belt changed then irrespective of what the owner said or what was tippexed on the rocker cover the first thing Id do would be change the belt. For any major work carried out Id expect there to be some evidence.

I wouldnt necessarily expect receipts for everything; things like tires and brake pads are fairly easy to tell if they have been changed when the owner said they had.

ba_barabus

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

Do I call bullsh*t then?!

You're asking the question in the wrong place.

Of course in a motors forum where people have an interest in their cars people will keep receipts. I'm on my way to pick up some clips to hold an air intake properly in place and that receipt will be added to the bundle too.

Everything apart from petrol and toll receipts are kept by me.

joujoujou

I love my car.

Have no receipts at all.

All of them burned in my fireplace.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Bandara

I just make a load of fake receipts the day before I sell the car

MarkR

When I got this car I decided I'd try to keep as much as possible, so I put everything into a A4 plastic document box I got in dealz.



Now I can find my insurance cert, log book, receipts etc.

Chris_Heilong

I only started doing this last year.

Voodoomelon

I reckon I could genuinely fill 2 car park spaces with receipts and invoices.

Scortho

I usenet to keep receipts for the polo of work done.
However since I got my alfa I have.


134,000 miles on the clock, with no history whatsoever...
It claimed to have new pads, brembo grooved and vented discs, a service, a belt fitted in February, new wishbones, a clutch fitted last year, new arb and a few other bits and pieces but not one receipt.
Everything checked out however including the belt (was put on without cam locks so timing was slightly out).

It does help if you buy off an alfa enthusiast in the south east of the country...
Also I don't need to put ds2500 pads on it like I planned.

For anyone with access to the italian car club ireland here is the thread!
http://italiancarclubireland.com/icciforum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1044

eringobragh

heaps of them - although they dont always correspond with the date of serviving i.e when halfords is doing a special on oils I'll grab 2 or 3 - same when I'm in toyota I'll get 2 oil filters while I'm there.

the only receipt I haven't got is the timing belt labour (have the kit, and the hyraulic tensioner receipt from toyota) . .the mrs collected my car that day and didn't bother to get the receipt :rolleyes:

I keep a spreadsheet on google docs with all the work I've done with date and mileage

anal? maybe, but at least I'll never lose it

coylemj

It's useful to have all the paperwork in a private sale where you're selling to someone who has the same mindset as you but the motor trade is not interested. They seem to have the view that having a heap of paperwork for one car has the effect of devaluing other cars on the lot that have no paperwork at all so their attitude is to claim that all of their cars have a 'full service history', usually with feck all to back it up.

Salespeople in the motor trade seem to have been trained in expertly kicking to touch when a punter asks about service history, I have never been offered as much as a receipt for an oil change. I can see the issue about privacy but they could always use a marker to blacken out the previous owner's name.

dgt

Fuel receipts mostly. We buy so much parts that if we kept every receipt we'd fill a filing cabinet in no time.

To me, receipts show the parts were put in but don't show how the parts were used. Who's to say biddy gets 2 new wishbones and rallies her car into every pothole she sees for the next 2 months, but it's grand as she got them done 2 months ago? Or those lovely Bridgestones at €180 a corner that done just 2k miles but are kerbed religiously every time they're parked?

TLDR, receipts mean nothing to me, I'll usually overhaul any daily hack I get anyway to my specs

Gumbo

I keep everything. And if i dont get a receipt, i use my own standard excell sheet where i fill in mileage and date and explanation of what i done.

Its a carbon copy of the BMW receipt and i place them all in a folder with those plastic clear sheets in order of occurance

If i am doing a DIY, i insert pictures into the excel sheet too.

Ded_Zebra

I try to keep them but they normally end up a crumpled mess in my pocket before I have a chance/remember to put them into the file. However I do always write down in the file what I did when (mostly so I know myself).

Bpmull

I have a folder with all the receipts for parts and labour for the focus. As you can imagine there is alot of them. I write on each receipt the mileage and date the work was done.

I also keep an excel spread sheet of the date mileage what work was done. I find keeping a record handy even just for myself as to what was done and when.

mickdw

I have a detailed history kept from new and I hope to change cars soon. It would be quite sickening to have to sell the car into the trade as I'm well aware that I'm getting no benefit out of my careful record keeping.
No doubt a private sale is the way to go, passing it on to a like minded person who will be willing to pay some small amount extra for a car with known and verifiable history.

Rowley Birkin QC

I keep everything in a folder at work. All scanned and saved to Google Drive. Have no intention of ever moving this car on but if I do it'll be easy to send on a link to pictures plus service history.

What I don't have is a service book, an original one was €30+ from BMW.

Scortho

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

I keep everything in a folder at work. All scanned and saved to Google Drive. Have no intention of ever moving this car on but if I do it'll be easy to send on a link to pictures plus service history.

What I don't have is a service book, an original one was €30+ from BMW.

Scrappy or eBay?

_Kaiser_

Have the service log and keep any major receipts with it.

When I traded in the Passat recently I had a folder full of them but unless you're selling privately I don't think it really makes much of a difference from my experience.

ABajaninCork

With all my cars (except the company one!), I've kept every single receipt for work done, and have FSH with each one. I also keep old MoT/NCT papers too. It's a great help when selling.

Tea 1000

dgt wrote: »

Fuel receipts mostly. We buy so much parts that if we kept every receipt we'd fill a filing cabinet in no time.

To me, receipts show the parts were put in but don't show how the parts were used. Who's to say biddy gets 2 new wishbones and rallies her car into every pothole she sees for the next 2 months, but it's grand as she got them done 2 months ago? Or those lovely Bridgestones at €180 a corner that done just 2k miles but are kerbed religiously every time they're parked?

TLDR, receipts mean nothing to me, I'll usually overhaul any daily hack I get anyway to my specs

It's best to check a car out for sure without worrying about any paperwork, but I've never yet gone to see a car that I was happy with that didn't have a service history also, and similarly every single car that I have viewed that didn't have a scrap of history was always rough enough for me to discount completely before I went looking for it.

dgt

Tea 1000 wrote: »

It's best to check a car out for sure without worrying about any paperwork, but I've never yet gone to see a car that I was happy with that didn't have a service history also, and similarly every single car that I have viewed that didn't have a scrap of history was always rough enough for me to discount completely before I went looking for it.

Almost every car I've had has had no service history (the E34 has a full service history). I'll usually know what I'm in for anyway after checking it out and rarely get stung. My current daily driver was in need of tlc when I got it but with the work put into it is a pretty good motor for peanuts, yet hasn't even a reciept for anything. I don't intend on selling it, I keep the service intervals in my head so I don't see any problems with the way I work. Plus if people want to see the work done I can just link them to the build thread.....

keithclancy

I scan all of them and stick them into evernote.