Single owner and maintenance records

[Phares]

What is the consensus of How much does "single owner" or complete maintenance records add to the sell price of a vehicle?

Two of the exact same vehicles but one with one, or both of the above criteria. Just trying to get a feel. Personally a single owner is only important as opposed to like 13 owners. For complete maintenance records I think I would add 1000$ for the peace of mind and resale value down the road.

Thoughts?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

How old is the vehicle we're talking about?

IMO, a vehicle is either neglected or its not, regardless of how many owners its had. Having a documented service history is a good thing, but I don't really care how many owners a vehicle has.

 

[Mtbcoach]

A single owner vehicle can abuse it during its life and carries no value to me, its about maintenance as Johnny said above...

 

[Phares]

Yeah i guess if it's a single owner barn find with a cool backstory and the intention is a full restoration than that matters. Otherwise I couldn't care. Maintenance history and an overall clean interior is the most important thing.

 

[NCFJ]

I agree with Johnny and Jerry. I would not pay more just because someone had a stack of dealer receipts. To me it just means they do not mind being raped on mechanical work.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I agree with Johnny and Jerry. I would not pay more just because someone had a stack of dealer receipts. To me it just means they do not mind being raped on mechanical work.

This is not what I meant above. I don't care if a vehicle is one owner or 12 owner. What does matter to me is that consistent maintenance records are available at the time of purchase. If they have a stack of receipts showing that they got an oil change every 5k miles for the last 150k miles, then that's exactly what I want to see. This is assuming, of course, that you intend to purchase without rebuilding/replacing everything right away.

Carfax is also something I've now become accustomed to as a purchasing tool and I tell you what, I will never buy another car without a Carfax.

More importantly than anything else, make sure you're aware of how to properly check out the vehicle in its current condition.

I'm still young and dumb, but I've never spent more than $3200 initial cost on any of my (or laura's) cars. All of them were extremely reliable with some minor work. I love buying used cars via private sale.

IIRC I'm Moonshine's 4th owner, but I got a 1.5" thick stack of receipts of work that she's had since new, including the original window sticker. The story is cool, but records of regular maintenance from showroom to when I bought her is what is important. The records I have now mean less than nothing, but that's neither here nor there

 

[ontherxs]

IIRC I'm Moonshine's 4th owner, but I got a 1.5" thick stack of receipts of work that she's had since new, including the original window sticker. The story is cool, but records of regular maintenance from showroom to when I bought her is what is important. The records I have now mean less than nothing, but that's neither here nor there

Seems you're your reliance on record keeping is exactly proportional to the number of pieces of Moonshine that are actually original. I call this the "Johnny constant"

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Seems you're your reliance on record keeping is exactly proportional to the number of pieces of Moonshine that are actually original. I call this the "Johnny constant"

That's hilarious. Sig line material right there.

 

[lt1fire]

While a single owner can mean that it lived a better life it is worth nothing extra on paper.
mounds of maintainance docs can mean bit and i'd say $1k is a good place to start. But that doesn't mean much if the owner is a diy'er like most on this board, There is only one receipt that I can produce from work done on my truck and that is because I can't weld and took it to stan to do. My truck has been well cared for though considering how the state it was in when I bought it. I imagine Johnny and others are the same, while their trucks are well cared for could most likley not produce a lot of maintenance records if asked for them.

Just my 2 cents.... now worth 1