David is right Debs in that a full service history does improve your chances of getting a good price.

However, even with the better price offered because of the history, you're never going to recover the cost of the servicing.

Just make sure you record in the service book all the services it has had, dealer or otherwise.                                                                                                                                                                             

a few years back i was told that Honda allowed 5 hours to take a fairing off a sports bike. the dealer was charging £35 per hour so your at £170 just to get a fairing off. look for a good non dealer bike shop to service the bike because as long as they use genuine parts they can still stamp the service book as a genuine Honda service.personnally i would change the oil ,spark plugs etc myself as its only really shimming that you would need a dealer to do.
                                                                                                                                                                             

Deb   How about a combination. Do all the easy intermediates yourself. Oil, plugs, brake adjustement, chain adjustment, filters etc.   Plus put the bike in the shop occasionally main service, shims etc.   Your MOT will point out any safety defects on steering, brake, lights etc   That will keep the service history going and hopefully save some dosh.                                                                                                                                                                             

5 hours to take the fairings off ? I'm sure that the orang-utan who owned my bike before me could do it in five minutes, with a big enough crow bar :(

My two penn'orth for Deb - a VFR isn't the easiest bike to learn home servicing on. You'll need somewhere safe to keep the fairing bits when they're off the bike, and you need to swing the radiator up to get to the front two spark plugs. It's not *that* much harder, but it is harder than on, say, an ER-5.