# Why the demand for car owner's manuals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760 "2016-10-06T11:41:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/21 "2016-10-06T22:19:03Z")
I bought one used for $10 once, the last two cars I just downloaded the pdf for free, so I always have it on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/22 "2016-10-07T00:09:14Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > … > I’ve never gotten the kit in a used BMW - I bought all mine via eBay. And that practice means BMW-less me now has 5 such kits on my bookcase (Z3, Z4, M Coupe, 3-series, 7-series). > … It’s guys like you who cause all the trouble. When you sold those cars why didn’t you include the manuals for the next guy? It’s the invasion of the Car Manual Hoarders. They’re worse than the National Geographic in the Basement Hoarders. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/23 "2016-10-07T00:34:20Z")
You can get a Haynes manual for just about any car for around 30 bucks. Way more useful than the owner’s manual that comes with the car. Although I guess the owner’s manual is handy for how to adjust seats and fiddle with the air conditioning and stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/24 "2016-10-07T01:14:02Z")
Hypothesis: If you lease a BMW, maybe you have to return it with the manual or pay for its replacement? If so, I estimate the replacement price at a few bucks above 75 dollars. 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/25 "2016-10-07T01:20:06Z")
Yeah, I just bought a 2012 Chevy Malibu and read the owner’s manual cover to cover. Maybe I am just an odd one, but I read the owner’s manual for almost everything I buy. I’m always sure that there’s something in there – some cool feature or trick – that I wouldn’t learn about by just playing around with it. In the case of my Chevy, there are all kinds of electronic features I wouldn’t have known how to navigate except by reading about it. I used to always buy a Haynes manual for my vehicles, too, but nowadays there’s not much the home mechanic can do with autos, and also there are YouTube videos for almost everything. Like adjusting the headlight on a 2012 Chevy Malibu. You have to take the entire front of the car off to get at the headlight! Cripes! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/26 "2016-10-07T02:04:19Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > You can get a Haynes manual for just about any car for around 30 bucks. Way more useful than the owner’s manual that comes with the car. > > Although I guess the owner’s manual is handy for how to adjust seats and fiddle with the air conditioning and stuff like that. What’s the newest car you’ve ever owned or driven regularly? Sounds like maybe a 2000 or so. The sheer volume of gizmos and features on a 2016 having little to do with driving and nothing whatever to do with servicing is mind-boggling. You paid for 'em; you might as well at least know they exist. This may or may not be “progress”. But it \*is \*what’s out there today. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/27 "2016-10-07T04:23:38Z")
when I bought a used car (1.5 years old) from a dealer, it had the manuals included in the glove box. But I’ve never opened them. I planned to, because I needed to figure out some controls for the audio system. But the manual just for the audio system was too intimidating – over 3/4 in ch thick! So I just lived without those functions. After a year or so, I thought to enter question into Google. I had the answer in less than a minute. And it worked. So the manuals sit in the glove bos, still un-opened. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/28 "2016-10-07T04:29:59Z")
When I sold my 1977 Datsun B210 in 2007, I still had both the manual and the dealer sales brochure which went to the new owner. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/29 "2016-10-07T11:57:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What’s the newest car you’ve ever owned or driven regularly? Sounds like maybe a 2000 or so. > > The sheer volume of gizmos and features on a 2016 having little to do with driving and nothing whatever to do with servicing is mind-boggling. You paid for 'em; you might as well at least know they exist. > > This may or may not be “progress”. But it \*is \*what’s out there today. This. My '82 Olds Cutlass Supreme was painfully simple compared to the 1-year-old car I’m driving now. Multiple touch screens, voice commands, various driving modes, automatic/manual dual-zone climate control, 360-degree cameras with multiple display modes, parking sensors, on and on. AIUI, the high water mark for “RTFM” was [BMW’s iDrive,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDrive) which baffled a lot of owners. ISTR that BMW actually offered classes to teach owners how to use that system. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/30 "2016-10-07T12:11:50Z")
This thread reminds me of all sorts of stuff. Until a couple years ago I had a 1987 Mazda 323, aka The Grey Ghost. Well, I was letting **FtGKid2** use it and it went belly up (gave up the ghost?) and was sold for scrap. The glove compartment was cleaned out and given to me, but I never thought about the manual. Didn’t know it might be worth anything. Looks like $10-$12 on eBay. But I kept the original bill of sale and all. (The amortized cost of this car was amazing.) Bought it on our anniversary. So it was easy to remember when the car’s anniversary was. I noted that it always seemed to average right around 12k miles/year. And “average” is too broad. It rolled over 120k on the 10 year anniversary. But I went thru some old papers a couple months ago and all those records were chucked. Re: Haynes/Chilton manual vs. owners manual. The former doesn’t fit into a glove box so well. And how often do you need to check the vacuum pressure in the middle of nowhere? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/31 "2016-10-07T12:14:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s guys like you who cause all the trouble. When you sold those cars why didn’t you include the manuals for the next guy? > > It’s the invasion of the Car Manual Hoarders. They’re worse than the National Geographic in the Basement Hoarders. 😃 No, no, no. It’s like the difference between crazy and eccentric - poor people are hoarders, middle class and up, we’re **collectors**. I’m a car/motorcycle guy, and part of that means that for every car and bike I’ve owned, I’ve got the owner’s manual(s), shop manual, dealership brochure, and the really weird part- whatever _watch_ was related to the car. (BMW, for instance, had a Z4 roadster watch. It’s huge - I’ve never worn it.) In any case (and maybe this makes it weirder), I print out the pdf manuals, take them to Kinkos and have them bound, and keep that in the car. That’s what the next owner gets. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/32 "2016-10-07T13:01:38Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I haven’t heard of this. How does the owner’s name get in the manual? Many people store insurance cards, receipts, etc in the manual (I do). When I sold my car recently, the used car dealer made a point of reminding me to clean out the manual-and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a well kept manual to begin with. And yes, once they took the car, everything was taken out of the car. I know the salesman went through the manual himself to check. He also commented that it annoys him that when he goes on eBay to locate a manual for a used car, he is probably buying the manual the previous owner took out and sold on eBay… As a side-track-I purchased a newer used car recently (why I sold my older car) and did so through a large auction house. While we (the car dealer that sponsored my presence on the auction grounds-one does not just wander around millions of dollars of inventory) were looking over used cars we came across several cars that were repossessed. Sad. One car still had the child’s car seat and a few cheap toys in the back seat and lots of school papers in the front seat. I was told that when it went to auction it would be completely empty-all that stuff would be discarded. When the repo guys come in the middle of the night, they don’t stop to clean out (or even open) the car. In and out snatch. So word to the wise, if your car is in danger of repossession or theft-don’t leave any valuables in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/33 "2016-10-07T13:14:03Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > There’s some value in having a hardcopy in your hands while you sit in the car trying to figure out how to operate the accessories, although admittedly that’s less of a big deal now due to the increasing ubiquity of tablet computers and wifi. Oh, no, I get that, but Cmd-P will print the PDF. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760/34 "2016-10-07T13:30:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The last time I needed a car manual, it was a Smart4 and I was trying to find out how to open the blasted deposit so I could gas it up. > > An online document wouldn’t have been very helpful, I was very glad that for once the rental had come with its manual. That’s the very reason I am grateful that the car sharing and rental cars I drive on rare occasions (I have got rid of my own car) invariably have their printed manuals in the glovebox: _Every time I drive a new model and enter a gas station there is that moment of panic - how do I open the fuel flap?_. With some makes you just need to push or pull on the fuel flap when the car is unlocked; with others there is a button or lever cunningly hidden in reach of the driver’s seat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-demand-for-car-owners-manuals/767760.md?page=1)