I can see the argument for dealer stamps if you're going to sell within a few years, but for a car which you want to keep and be sure everything's been done properly then you need to either do it yourself or take it to an independent who you trust.
We bought our Defender in 2002, paid around £14.5k for it IIRC. It's never been near a LR main dealer, has no stamps at all in the service book, and we've been offered £18k for it. We chopped our Fiat 500 in against the Mini, they dropped £500 off the value as it had no main dealer stamps. It was a 7 year old car, and the main dealer service costs would have been far more than £500 over that time.
My Morgan must be practically worthless on paper as it's been so extensively modified from original, but to an enthusiast who knew what they wanted and understood what they were buying, it would be a good bet. No amount of service stamps would make any difference at all.
Tim, AKA Hamwich, I suspect you may be spot-on in your assessment.
Apparently, much has changed over the years as investment thinking seems to have crept ever more into that which was formerly just an old car hobby, as it once was in simpler times..? It seems that prior to purchase of a recreational vehicle, it`s possible value come time of re-sale can be very much part of the decision to buy or not to buy, and that which may be hyped by the trade when selling can be this that or the other, and which may in reality be worth not quite as much if anything, when we may be selling at some later date..?
Anybody buying a Morgan or any other machine should make the decision to purchase on three primary factors ... A bit like the TV house purchase programmes advice, though in the case of a machine those factors are CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION.
As for determining condition, despite my many decades of restoring, repairing and maintaining my own vehicles of many types, when it came to buying my Porsche I paid to have it inspected by an official Porsche agent who is undoubtedly far better equipped to understand the generic and other issues likely to crop up on a Porsche of it`s age and mileage, perhaps more so as a Porsche based extended warranty was to be purchased..?
Having also spent quite a few years on automotive related forums, it seems rather obvious that stamps in books while important to us as private buyers, are as Tim suggests perhaps not worth much more than £500 to the trade even in the world of Porsche.. And as for fake histories it seems there may be a market for those too and the term patina comes from the antique trade who well understand the many and varied ways of applying or detecting a bit of fakery..
Add to that if you will my recent 4x4 failing apparently caused by software detecting a wheel sensor issue on a car that was in for main dealer servicing circa three months and perhaps 1500 miles ago, and where a support bracket designed to hold wiring to such wheel and brake sensors was found to be dangling from the cables it was supposed to be holding clear of damage... What then the real world value of full main dealer service ..?
