I believe the subject of this thread relates to the actual service records of a particular vehicle. You’re talking about a Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI ). There’s a huge difference between the two. For starters, the VMI only shows work that was paid for by MB Warranty/Goodwill. You won’t find scheduled maintenance, or any other customer pay work listed on a VMI. They can be helpful if you need to solve a mileage discrepancy, or to check for any open Recall/Service Campaigns, but other than that, they’re virtually useless to a would-be used car buyer. A VMI can be obtained by any MB dealer, regardless of where the car was purchased or serviced.

The service records however, have detailed information about the vehicle’s history relating to repair and maintenance work. Part numbers, prices, labor charges, and actual time spent on the job are all there. I don’t think they offer much to a potential buyer that a good pre-purchase inspection wouldn’t uncover, but sometimes they can make for entertaining reading. The service files are ( supposed to be ) stored on-site at the dealership, with restricted access to the storage area. Only the dealer that performed the customer pay work has access to these records. If a vehicle has had work done at several different dealers it can be a real hassle to compile a complete history. At my dealer, if a service file is inactive for two years, it’s moved to an off-site, secured storage area. I hope this clears things up.




Some may disagree, but I find Carfax to be pretty much useless. I’ve done major work including engine/transmission replacement and flood damage repair, paid for by insurance, and never saw it show up on a Carfax report. I’ve also seen signs posted in body shops stating that they do not report to Carfax.