How does that affect second-hand value for you (if you intend to ever sell)? Where I live, a lack of documentation from official or authorized dealership servicing is a big red flag when buying a used car.

I find that hard to believe unless it’s an antique or a sports car. It’s certainly a plus when you sell something.

2 Jeep dealers couldn’t tell me what needs to be done on my 35k checkup. It’s right in the manual. They only tried to upsell fluid flushes. The multipoint inspection didn’t even cover the cv joint checks that were mentioned in the manual!

In the US, almost no one goes to their dealership for routine maintenance (i.e. tires, brakes, oil). Many/most will go in for bigger stuff like transmission service, steering, etc. but even then many still opt for their local mechanic's shop. To be honest, I would rather see a car going to reputable local shop than to a dealership, but it's really hard to know what "reputable local shop" means when you're buying a used car that could have been serviced four states away.

We have lots of garbage chains of auto shops (looking at you, JiffyLube...) that leave cars in worse shape than when they came in, which complicates matters immensely. I've had one car for example that has had the front engine cover come off twice because the knuckleheads at the shop didn't reattach it correctly, causing it to drag on the road for miles before we realized what was wrong.

(inb4 someone rolls in with how blockchain is going to "fix" this)

I actually go to the dealership (VW) for routine maintenance and I have a local, specialized Euro/VW mechanic for more expensive repairs. Dealership service centers are the training grounds for specialized mechanics. So it's better for me to get the alignment done using an apprentice who does them daily rather than a pricey specialist who does them 4x/year and has 4 engine outs in the bay.

What's your basis for this assertion?

Everyone I know who drives a foreign car (a set that tilts overwhelmingly to German makers) takes their car to the dealer for routine maintenance because the maintenance is often included in the purchase price. This is true absolutely for BMW, and CAN be true (ie, you can choose to do it) with Volkswagen.

If you're not the first owner, then yeah, you may go to a 3rd party, but the new-car drivers are going back to the mothership.

My basis for this assertion is that I know very few people who are duped into buying maintenance contracts. Those things aren't "included in the purchase price" for anything but the highest end of mass market cars, they're overpriced tack-ons that dealerships push hard when you're purchasing a car.

Granted, I know very few new BMW owners (and the few that I do know, know very little about cars and just wanna go fast); most everyone I know who has a US- or Japan-make car doesn't bother with going back to the dealership, and that's the vast majority of car owners in the US.

EDIT: The other thing to keep in mind is, most Americans aren't buying new cars. In our tech centric bubble, sure, nearly everyone buys a car new off the lot, but in my sample size of a few dozen people in Ohio who are almost all professionals working decent office jobs, maybe half my friends have ever bought a new car, and the rest are driving something second hand. And keep in mind, these are young professionals with low debt and decent financial sense. The average person in the US almost certainly can't afford a brand new car on a frequent basis, and certainly not the dealer markup on services.

IDK, a lot of my local dealers push free maintenance for the first 24 months. I've had one of them. They recommended additional services on every free visit, including the first one after only ~5k miles. Every recommendation was at least as expensive as an oil change.

I'm sure that was coincidental and they were all seriously needed services.

All those German cars are leased

Mine never were, but ok.

You’re in a bubble.

I’ll drive it until the wheels fall off.

It absolutely doesn’t affect the value of the car to use 3rd party service.