Just wanted a few opinions on car servicing. I am selling my Audi A4 which has a full Audi service history it needs a service and Mot in the next two weeks do I take it to the main dealer at a cost of £200 or most other garages for £100 or cheaper? It’s a old car now 56 plate does it make any difference at this age, is it £100 well spent? Cheers!!!

Specialist independent would be my choice.

Specialist independent at that age and with what it’s future is going to be.

A trusted person whether they be a specialist or not. 20 years ago when I first moved to this area someone recommended me a small local garage and they’ve been brilliant and i’ve since recommended loads of people to him and they’ve all continued to use him. Trust is the most important thing – I don’t attach to much value to particular ‘Specialists’ of car brands unless its a rare or unusual car. An A4 is a pretty common car with all the common issues probably known to any mechanic, and if they’re not then a quick google with tell them (or you) as much information than any ‘Specialist’ can impart. A mate of mine took his Mini Cooper S to him after a local ‘Mini Specialist’ failed to fix his car after 3 visits and a chunk of money spent, and he sorted it no problem and diagnosed something the so called specialist totally missed.

Though I guess in the absence of anybody you know giving you a recommendation then a Specialist is probably your safest choice if you were to choose someone at random.

I used to go to a cheap place called In n Out. Customer service was always very good, they looked pro enough. So according to VW it was time for a major service, so I told them that and asked they what they’d do. They sort of shrugged and just said ‘well, it’s just a change of fluids innit’. Occurred to me that’s not that great value for the £99 they charged, so I decided to do it myself.

I now have the Haynes manual which has a service schedule in it. It’s pretty much just oil and filters at certain intervals and inspection. Only other thing is cambelt of course and brake fluid every two years, which I’m not sure I fancy doing.

So the upshot is, ask a garage what they do and compare it with what Audi say they do.

The key thing is whoever does it, make sure they do it to the proper service schedule – ie, the spark plugs, fuel filter and cam belt actually get changed every 60k or so rather than just doing “oil and filter” at every service.

When I’m buying a car, specialist history looks better than a random garage, and will probably help sell the car given it’s previously had full Audi history. If the book is full of random stamps, it’s not going to make much difference who does it.

As for whether specialists are worth it or not, depends on the car and the specialist. The bloke who fixes my wife’s Alfa isn’t cheap, but whenever it comes back from him it runs spot on.

That’s the thing see a “service” isn’t really a set thing – In and Out will just change the fluids and filters (Saying that filters seem to be a optional thing these days) a main dealer service will usually include a full diagnostic and visual vehicle check – they’ll attempt at least to get it back as close to ‘as new’ as possible – cynical ploy to sell you over priced consumables or invaluable way to keep your car safe and reliable, bit of both probably.

Indies usually offer the same thing as main dealers for a bit less.

As for the OP if it’s up for sale and it still drives well I wouldn’t bother, let the new owner decide.

I had a phone call from Mercedes earlier reminding me that my MOT on my Smart was due later this month and would I like to book it in.
Considering they charged me £412 for the last service (40,000 mile) they can FRO.