Just had the car in for service and MOT. Major service last year so this year just new oil, front pads, an usual stuff plus MOT. All good, until you then see the bill for £315!

The car is out of warranty and when it does eventually go it will probably be as trade in where, my previous experience shows, they dont really care about service history.

I’m now thinking next year I just get it MOT’s and if anything comes up I just get it fixed. Any reason not to take this approach?

My car gets it’s annual MOT, I change the oil and filter once a year as well.

That’s about it. Still chugging along at 160k miles. It got a new exhaust this year, was still on the original Toyota one!

Batman?
It’d be a bit of a giveaway if the authorities could nip round the Arches and Phil’d be all like …
“Oh Yeah? Bruce Wayne? He brings his motor in ‘ere'”

Missing oil changes is not a good idea. Not much else that would bother me though unless I was simply wanting to maximise resale value.

Forgot to get my girlfriends done for about 18 months. Got hammered for it when we traded it in. Won’t do it twice.

garage prices – say 90-100 quid for the oil and filters. (40 quid from the factors) (based on a fixed price minor service being 159 quid at vw)

MOT is abnout 55 quid

brake pads – 30-40 quid at garage prcies (again 20 quid or so at the factors)

Doesnt leave much for actually doing the service and fitting the pads at garage prices.

Sounds like a bargain for a years motoring to me im failing to see your gripe.

Someone i know does the not servicing or fixing car except at mot or it physically wont move thing- it really is a discouragement to me taking a lift off him. last time i got a lift it felt like the rear end of his car was going to separate every bump we hit.

I get mine serviced about every 6 months or so, along with the annual MOT.

Never had to pay anywhere near what you’ve forked out for though.

Used to do my own oil & filter changes, etc but CBA any more as I think my time is worth more and can be better spent doing other stuff, so I’m happy to pay for someone else to do the work.

EDIT: I should add that I’d never go near a dealer service these days though, that’s just throwing money away for work that’s not been done.

Change the oil and filters myself although it can be almost as cheap to get this done a garage. Change pads, plugs, whatever as they need doing. Can’t see the point in dealer servicing. Once a car gets past a certain age it’s just throwing money away.

Also somewhat sceptical about FSH too. Got a car from the FiL with full BMW service history and quite a few things had never been changed in its entire life.

Regular oil and filter changes and keep an eye on the brakes. Bear in mind that the MoT is just a minimum standard thing, so just because something passes, doesn’t mean it’s going to be okay a month or two later. My latest MoT included an advisory on a ‘slight’ wheel hub noise – it was actually a raving howl at anything over 40mph and when the bearing was swapped, there’s was a bunch of play in the old one, like virtually a rattle.

But basically that’s what I do, you do need to keep mental track of stuff that’s deteriorating gradually like brakes as you tend to get used to them and remember to change stuff like air filters and spark-plugs off your own bat.

We get it serviced each year with the MOT. I’d change brake pads, shoes etc if they needed doing in the summer. I’ll be damned if I’ll work on the car in the cold and wet though.

I find that to work on a newish car, you need to strip away so much stuff to get to what you want to work on it simply can’t be arsed, so off to the garage it goes.

Seems false economy to miss servicing though.

As long as you change the oil and oil filter once a year, everything else will not do harm to your engine, but it might not run quite as well. For the price of a service kit, and a couple of hours of your time, you may as well do oil, filter, air filter, plugs (if required) etc too yourself. All easy jobs.

A service generally includes much more than the obvious, so I can understand the cost to a degree. Things are cleaned, inspected, lubricated etc, but none of this will show on your bill, but all take time and therefore cost.

My sister took the “it’s too expensive approach” engine lunched itself, rest of the car is great nick for a 6yo Peugeot.

I’d also add that if I went to see a car without service history, but a load of receipts for regular oil changes, it wouldn’t put me off buying. Total neglect would though.

One car I (Honda) I only get serviced for the major service (75k miles), aside from that, I service it myself and only repair when MOT requires it. I keep a written log of work so when I sell it privately I can show it’s had oil changes. I’ve not noticed any difference in price selling a used car under £2k without history as long as the paint looks good!

The other (BMW) I do get serviced but opt for the long service schedule of 20k miles, and then perform an oil change myself in between. Luckily the garage I use doesn’t actually charge much more than the parts cost + what I’d call reasonable value for the time I save doing it myself.

I find the best way to look at car ownership is the full year cost, not the price of a service/one off issue. Any car costs atleast £500 per 10k miles over it’s lifespan including consumables and servicing. Even when I was running bangers and doing it myself it worked out around that much once I factored in my time and slightly more regular minor issues due to running a poorer condition car.

When you buy a car it’s a tool that requires x amount of running costs, rather than an asset that might need a repair once in a while. I find most cars cost less to run than the bike parts I wear out/break over the space of a year!

franksinatra

Any reason not to take this approach?

In my experience it leads to a ‘write off’.

When cars get older, or their owners really stop caring about them so much they’ll learn to live with faults as long as they’re not overtly dangerous or annoying, so they build up.

Once the 10year/100k miles watermark comes up it gets much worse, values are getting low and it’s typically what manufacturers consider the life for bigger consumables – so stuff fails and the faults will build up quicker, before the MOT day come and the guy tells you it’s going to cost £1000 to get it through it’s test because half a dozen things need replacing and as it’s now only worth about that it gets sent off the the crusher.

But that stuff is more ‘serviceable stuff’ than a ‘Service’ a main dealer or decent Indie will inspect the car during a service and replace worn stuff (or maybe nearly worn, or slightly dirty depending on how poor they’re feeling) hence the bills, you could take it to somewhere like In and Out who’ll change the oil and stamp your book for you and it’s been ‘serviced’ – at least the engine should be okay.

I like to keep mine tip-top, main dealer service and whilst I won’t always agree to all the recommended stuff they ask for, I will get it done either myself or by our local place – but then, I don’t pay for it, my Boss does.

If nothing else I will look at leasing more seriously next time I replace the car.

I look after anything I own. I don’t pay daft dealer prices, but it’s cheaper to go to Kwik Fit etc for a basic oil change than it is to buy the oil and filter yourself usually, so why bother going anywhere else. Some stuff I’ll do myself (Brake pads, simple stuff that just needs a new bit bolting on etc)as and when it needs doing, but in the main I can’t be bothered doing it myself anymore. Ive built engines, had gearboxes out, done head gaskets and cam belts etc but not any more. We use a local mobile guy who’s very good and cheaper than most.

A couple of years ago I took the car for an MOT and was chatting to the service manager and he pointed to a decent looking Vauxhall Zafira in the corner. It was maybe 4-6 years old and looked fine. Apparently the woman who bought its NEVER serviced it. Like really never ever. And when the cupful of sludge that had once been oil finally gave up providing any form of lubrication to the engine, it seized solid and chucked a con-rod through the block…..

In my experience it leads to a ‘write off’.

This is a good point. Older prestige cars with full main dealer service history can be a great choice for this reason. Unlike older/cheaper cars, they’ve had all the consumables replaced before ‘end of life’, so you end up with great condition 100k mile cars. They cost more to run if something does go wrong but in the meantime you get a car that doesn’t feel like it’s falling to pieces.

I’ve driven a 250k mile old Volvo that felt more solid and better condition than 50k Vauxhalls and it was only £1000!

If the car you have suits your needs and doesn’t have a major lurking gremlin, it’s worth keeping it serviced to put off replacing it with an unknown.

The only time I’ve ‘given’ up on cars is when there were major issues like massive oil consumption or major suspension issues on a car worth £500.

As long as the engine oil/filter’s been changed and anything else like cambelts, gearbox/transmission oil checked or replaced as necessary you’re unlikely to do any damage. Other filters will help it run better. For an older car, the right receipts rather than a garage service history wouldn’t put me off.

I do almost all of mine myself, it’s not brain surgery. And it’s better kept than a lot of book-serviced cars that end up being driven around with a fault, knowingly or not, for thousands of miles between services. There’s no chance it’s reduced the resale value by more than it’s saved, because I’ve saved more than it was ever worth in the first place.

It does have receipts and a certain amount of paint pen on it, mostly to remind me.

If nothing else I will look at leasing more seriously next time I replace the car.

The penalty cost of not servicing a lease car is generally far less than the actual cost of servicing it. I’d never buy ex-lease unless it had full service history.

Lease cars don’t save money, they just roll up the payments into a single sum per month. It’s like arranging a 20 year mortgage deal at 7% when you can get 4% elsewhere. You know how much it’ll cost every month for 20 years, but you’ll be paying over the odds every month.

Lease cars are good if you like shiny things and like to change often or for business use. I guess they make sense if you want to run a new high performance car without the risks.

Surely you notice the fuel economy difference?

Used to service my old diesels every 6k with new oil and the 3 main filters. Got lazy and do it every 12 months now (mileage has plummeted), properly cleaned and drained the engine too.

Have a small petrol now and I can tell it needs a service, planned for this weekend.

Mind you I kind of do banganomics, except I buy cars at 3-4K and see how long I can get them to last (aim for 10 years) by looking after them.

Did buy my dad’s car off him that had a FSH, air filter was black and ripped through and oil filter had rusted… That eventually died due to salt on the roads, load of structural rust as well as more of the bodywork than I was prepared/able to do (had already fixed some minor stuff).

I do everything upto the cambelt on the service schedule, I probably could do the cambelt, but it’d take me all day, and runs the risk of lunching the engine for the sake of £200 or so.

Oil + filter +air filter + cabin* filter + spark plugs costs about £65 from the ford parts counter, oil from wherever is cheap (nowhere this time, damnit, paid £28 for magnatec because the halfords own brand was pretty much the same price). Just stick the receipts in the back of the log book and scribble something in the service history pages to remind me.

OH is useless though, no mechanical sympathy, never checks the car over, and unless I remind her (or just do it) never has the car serviced. She expects them to check tyre pressure at the MOT.

*TBH I probably shouldn’t bother, I don’t have hayfever, and it’s a PITA to get to involving removing the whole fuse panel.

My 11 year old Focus is still largely going ok. Mileage us usually well under 5k as I ride to work and now I’m a full time roadie I’m not doing long trips up to Wales and the Lakes any more. I have it serviced every year – partly cos I don’t fancy breaking down and having to call out the RAC and I’d like it to have some residual value when I decide to get rid

Just had it serviced last week £300 and it’s definitely running more smoothly.

Like PP I like to look after my possessions and a car isn’t supposed to be free/cheap to run – I know I’m going to have to spend at least £300/year on servicing and just factor that into my budgeting.

Almost never get ours “serviced”.

Do the usual oil & filters myself (mostly) on a 6 month / 5k schedule. Sometimes they’re a garage job if it coincides with a repair of some sort, or a belt change, or whatever.

Seems to be working ok as a tactic.

We paid £6k for a just under 3 year old Focus 7+ years ago

That’s my favourite price point too; sadly we didn’t have the savings this time around. Our last 3 year old buy worked out good… 6 years out of a 40k miles £7k focus for us, sold at £2k after about 75k miles. Sum total of repairs were the alternator (easy DIY job for £100) and one brake caliper (£200 garage job). The only other costs on that car were oil changes and brake pads and tyres, regular stuff, £300 year covered that easy. Calculator says that cost us £23 a week or about £80 a month. I struggled to do better than that with bangers and they were far less reliable.

Forgot to get my girlfriends done for about 18 months

You have to service girlfriends more often than that.

Get it serviced. Why drive a mail that could let you down on a dark, cold wet drive back from Wales on a Sunday evening?

I don’t trust Stealers dealers – after working for one, it’s shocking what doesn’t get done and wrong grades of oil.

DIY for all my cars and quality oil and parts.

That’s my favourite price point too; sadly we didn’t have the savings this time around.

I know what you mean. For that price you get to choose model, spec and colour if you do your homework.
This time I had less money*, so condition was king.
I needed a (bigger) estate car with a towbar, cruise control (The 2 things we had fitted to the current car) and a petrol engine. I did a LOT of looking and walked away from 2 cars because they were’t right. I was quite happy to pay a bit more than I wanted to for that Mazda in the link above because it’s in such perfect nick. I only wanted a £2k car that would last 2 years but I reckon this will last a lot longer so the extra £400 was well spent I think

*I didn’t really. But we only do 5-6k miles a year and I’d rather put the money into the mortgage, new bikes or holidays instead!

A couple of years ago I took the car for an MOT and was chatting to the service manager and he pointed to a decent looking Vauxhall Zafira in the corner. It was maybe 4-6 years old and looked fine. Apparently the woman who bought its NEVER serviced it. Like really never ever. And when the cupful of sludge that had once been oil finally gave up providing any form of lubrication to the engine, it seized solid and chucked a con-rod through the block…..

My wife wasn’t aware that cars needed servicing. Her Nissan Almera ran for 12 years like that before it was gifted to me. I did the decent thing (an oil change) and it ran for 6 more before a new exhaust and 2 new tyres made it beyond economic repair .. but mainly it was the heater being broken and the strange odour of a 20 year old car/skip that sealed it.

I’d service it if I’d paid a bit for it or it was still being paid for, but my level of spend doesn’t really warrant it.

I recently went to look at an Alfa 159. Beautiful car, 4 years old, 80,000 (presumably motorway) miles, one lease owner. Looked beautiful inside and out. Seemed cheap too. Looked perfect until I checked the book. One service at 15,000 miles and nothing since then. Such a shame to see a nice car abused like that – you can skimp if you want but at least do the oil changes.

Anyway, I’m currently in the camp who believes in well-maintained cars and taking them to big miles. A service cost of several hundred quid is intimidating but if you expect it and budget for it then it’s no big deal. It seems a shame that the average car in the UK only lives to 12 years old. Seems so wasteful.

I do the oil sometimes when I remember apart from that no

Same with shocks its cheaper to just let them break and replace than service every year.

I do my own servicing, partly to reduce ownership costs, partly to know its done right and partly becsuse I quite enjoy it. Exactly the same reasons I look after my own bikes.

We’ve had one car was never serviced, bought it as year old clio with a few k on the clock from a dealer in 1999, ran it to 2010 when the cambelt broke, never serviced, no oil changes etc I sold it for a couple of hundred quid with a blank service book. It had a set of pads, some tyres and a coil spring in the 70k miles in between.

Not sure why I didnt look after that one, just forgot spose.

It’s all a scam by the oil companies to sell the leftovers they have when they make petrol anyway

I’ve got a 12 year old near 170k Mondeo. It gets serviced twice a year (about every 8k) and all the little niggles and faults other than cosmetic get fixed.

Why?

Well it owes us nothing is been fully paid for for over seven years.
£600 a year in consumables and servicing is only two lease payments on something newer.
I lug myself and my family around in it in all weathers at all times of day and I don’t want it lunching itself on a wet motorway.
There are other people on the road like pedestrians, cyclists and other motor vehicle users who should have a legitimate expectation that I’m driving aground in something that’s properly maintained and safe.
An Mot is a point check on condition. Your car would still pass in a condition that meant it might be not fit just a few weeks later due to ongoing wear.

I also spend 10-20 hours a week in it so if it runs like crap it will drive me potty!

Not me personally, but my mates mum traded in her perfectly good Ford galaxy as it was over due it’s cambelt service, so she took a big hit on a trade in for a 17k newish car.

Justification: £300-400 is far too much money to spend on a car 😯

I don’t think that’s ever had an oil change either.

Also garages can’t be trusted as others said.. I bought a brand new fiesta St, back in my boy racer days, took it to the Ford dealer for its first proper service, and they charged me £15 or so for a replacement air filter.

It was an amusing conversation when I accused them of not changing it, they started getting a bit angry when I called them thieves, but soon quietened down when I asked them what they’d done with my £150 induction kit/cone filter in order for them to fit a new standard panel filter!

Needless to say they had just printed off a standard service checklist, ticked all the boxes and tried billing me for it!

I always keep my cars serviced.

My Ibiza I got rid of earlier this year I stretched the interval out to 15k miles/year as I was doing 34k miles/yr for 2.5 years at one point.
No point scrimping on it – I need my car to get me to work and am pretty stuffed without it. Would rather spend a bit of money on servicing and feel confident that my car will get me where I need to go and things like brakes, bushes, cv joints etc are kept on top of. I know it’s no guarantee, but….

I save £200 per month to cover servicing, mots insurance etc. so I don’t generally have to find large quantities of money. That’s for both cars, my daily commute car and my Wife’s c3 Picasso.

Don’t trust garages – the only stuff I’ve had done in the last few years is a clutch and cambelt on my van, and a warranty clutch and one dealer service on my wife’s car. Apart from that I’ll do everything myself.

MOTs always get done at a Just MOT place, they can just about managed a bulb change but other than that there is no incentive to fail it to create work…not had an MOT fail for years, think the last one just need pads and discs.