Digi ain’t always better
THERE was a time when it was easy to build up an ongoing dossier of repairs, parts, accessories and service bills. Receipts were always on paper, so all that was needed was to stuff them in the same box and call it a fully documented service history. Of course, this is hopeless if you want to trace back a few years to find whether that water pump you remember fitting was genuine or aftermarket – it’s much better to catalogue them in date order. Most of us looking at a used Land Rover for sale will have been presented with a glovebox full of documents that are impractical to sift through, but an orderly file gives a prospective buyer that extra confidence in both the vehicle and the seller.
But with online parts suppliers sending digital receipts, and garages still sending paper invoices, we now end up having to keep two systems that can’t be integrated. My answer is to print all digital receipts and stick them in the good old ring-binder folder on the shelf. Alternatively, digitise the paper receipts and title everything with the year, month and day so they all drop into date order in a folder on the computer – good for personal access, but less practical for discussing issues with a garage.
Paper carries clout when there’s a problem to discuss. Handing your mobile phone over the counter displaying an emailed receipt is far less practical than slapping a copy of a paper invoice down and announcing the alternator has packed up already, and here’s the proof that your garage supplied and fitted it. I was recently paying an invoice at my local garage, and getting a paper receipt, when I noticed a fine Ford Cortina Estate car being Mot’d. Its owner had bought it new back in 1972 and had obviously given it continual attention, including five complete new exhaust systems. Apart from the first one, all these exhaust systems had been supplied and fitted free over his 50 years of ownership; all because the first one had a lifetime guarantee and – you’ve guessed it – he still has the receipt. And he must have a darned good filing system, too.