so if you were going to look at a 2007 BMW with about 190k miles on it, and the owner said he's a DIY guy and is on top of all maintenance, and he had a spreadsheet of date / mileage / service but didn't have receipts for any parts, what would you think? FWIW, this is my daily (NOT for sale) and this is how i'm tracking my maintenance and repairs. i mostly order parts online and don't keep a folder of receipts, but i do have pix of the new parts going in, as seen below.
Wow!
I would think he's a bit OCD 
But I'd be glad to have the history.
In reply to parker :
Beat me to it.
I'd think you're crazy, but a good kind of crazy. If the car was solid it would be a deal clincher, though I would be curious why you would save pics but not receipts.
I have a moleskin with dates, mileage, part numbers, work performed and measurements (if required) in the door of the MS3.
It's log booked like an airplane. Anytime it goes to someone besides me for a job, I scan the receipts as a PDF into my Google Drive and record it as well.
So to me, totally acceptable as long as the person seller doesn't seem like he just made it all up.
I think it's crazy. I don't keep records on anything. Probably never will.
Heh heh. Reminds me of me. When I sold the BMW I had a 3 ring binder with all maintenance records in chronological order (previous owners were good about keeping receipts) from when it left the dealer. I then made a spreadsheet like yours documenting all of that plus maintenance I had done with and without receipts, with dates, mileage and type of oil/plugs/whatever. I even made a pretty cover for it with the BMW logo.
Damn I miss that car.
Looking it over makes me think its got a oil consumption issue.
182,475 added quart
184,067 added quart
2 quarts in 1500 miles?
I’ll pay $50 for it
I use a paint pen on the upper rad support and list the date and what was done for large items. Like battery or alternator or water pump. Oil change records are kept in a small spiral bound note pad thing with date and millage. Things like wiper blades and misc fluids I don’t keep records of. I do record coolant and brake fluid changes on the rad support.
So if you ever come across a car with a lot of orange paint pen documentation on the upper rad support it could have been mine at some point.
Suprf1y said:
I would be curious why you would save pics but not receipts.
He probably has the receipts, but they're probably lumped in with other purchases, etc. Redacting the personal info out would be a PITA. When I sold the mushroom-brown Celica to Jthw8, it had stacks of paperwork from the PO (who was my sister). I wanted to provide that to him, but not a family member's personal info, so I had to go through and make copies of eveything with it taped out.
In reply to Duke :
Sure but if you're taking pics it's easy to take a pic of the receipt with that info covered up. Not a deal breaker, just odd considering all the trouble he otherwise went to.
In reply to TGMF :
Saw that too, and he's adding a lot of oil but I wouldn't says it's excessive quite yet. It does have 200k on it
It looks pretty good but I think leaving out the receipts was a mistake - potential buyers may be suspicious that it's all made up.
I have two BMWs, a 1986 and 1988. For whatever reason, I've noticed over the years that BMW owners more so than other brands keep exacting service records, and/or ask for them when buying cars. I know both of mine have just about every single record (some previous owners even kept track of when they washed the cars 
) so as a result I have a large binder full of paperwork for each car.
In reply to The0retical :
I was thinking the same thing. Looks just like an aircraft logbook.
Makes sense to me, but I work the same way. Sorry, I'm not saving the Costco receipt with 50 other things on it, just because that's where I buy oil.
If it’s clean and neat under the hood I’m on board with guy. Interior clean too? Check - I’m good.
I keep a logbook on everything. Gas, oil, tire rotation, everything that was ever done on the car. Even gas prices and mpg for that tank.
Ive never been asked to prove the logbook. Even on the 375k camry (it actually sold for 2300 BECAUSE of the records)
Spreadsheet is a little much for me. But i dislike computers, and particularly excel.
I'm in the notebook camp. I don't bother with receipts generally; for me it's enough to see a logbook that's plausible and consistent with what I'm seeing on the car.
I'm a log booker. Date, mileage, item. Even my '71 Ford Tractor. Date, hours, item. I don't think he sat down and made all that up. I take it that he found the air filter that dirty as opposed to letting it get that bad.
I'm honestly awful about keeping maintenance records unless it's something I know I'll be selling. For the Jeep, I've got everything from the original sales receipt and window sticker up to when I bought it (12 yrs / 100k miles from new). In the 9 years / almost 150k miles since, I think I've added 2 things to the folder...
I use a folder for paperwork if I remember to put it in there. I scribble dates and mileage on the front along with any notable repairs.
I’m now searching for a maintenance records app.
Each of my vehicles has a small spiral bound notebook where I log date/mileage/item and brand. If that's not enough for someone, well, I can't help them..
Never had a car that had a next owner, so no need!
Pete
If anything ever happens to Google Drive a lot of us will be SCREWED. It’ll be like the Photobucket fiasco only 100x worse.
Forget all that, LOVE the color!
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