Breakdown cover when car not serviced regularly

Simon970

Hi everyone,

I have an old banger (Nissan Micra). I don't have it serviced as I bought it for £600 a few years back and it has been very reliable. I have just examined the policy terms for my breakdown cover (FirstCall) and have discovered a clause that says it should be serviced regularly. I have researched other breakdown policies (Autoaid, RAC etc.) and they all say the same. I have never needed to use the policy for the 4 years that I have had it.

The last time I called a breakdown service out was back in 2002 when I had an old Mazda. Again, I never had it serviced because of its age and price. I called out the service (GreenFlag) about once or twice year on a full policy (including home start). No questions were ever asked about its service record.

Is the 'get car serviced' something that has appeared in the last few years on policies? Will a breakdown company check the service record if my Micra does break down at home/on the road?

Thanks

Simon

david29dpo

Just say you do it yourself, i do and i do.

Hintza

Give it an oil and filter change, at least once a year well worth it.

anewman

Spark plugs are also cheap and usually easy to diy. Do it yourself. You'll get more mpg, the car will last longer, and be less likely to break down. Not servicing is a false economy if you end up buying a 600 quid car every couple of years.

terryw

anewman wrote: »

Spark plugs are also cheap and usually easy to diy. Do it yourself. You'll get more mpg, the car will last longer, and be less likely to break down. Not servicing is a false economy if you end up buying a 600 quid car every couple of years.

I agree with most of your post but gotta disagree with the last sentence.! £600 every two years is cheap motoring mate. I know because that is what I do! A flash car on payments is sheer stupidy.

bw

terryw

anewman

What I meant was diy servicing will cost you £100 at most, avoiding this cheap cost which may damage the car necessitating the purchase of a new one at a higher cost than the servicing is false economy (especially when you add on increased cost of petrol due to reduced mpg). Nothing wrong with couple hundred quid motors

The_AA_company_representative_2

Hi

Very interesting discussion.

At the AA we don’t check service histories. A Patrol who attends a breakdown might recommend a service if he identifies some running problems which could be improved by new oil and plugs, but the majority of breakdowns we see aren’t caused by poor servicing. Cam belt failure might be the exception here.

As anewman rightly says, thick gloopy oil and coked up plugs and dirty air filters won’t help fuel consumption and do you really want to find you have leaking wheel cylinders when you need the brakes? In the event of a breakdown we’d still help you – if you were a member, but we wouldn't expect to see you over and over again with the same fault.

Rebel

Nicely put AATekkie and very well said!

I have been a member of either the AA or RAC for a number of years and never been asked about service history in the 2 or 3 times I have needed help over the last 20 years (I can supply a FSH as it happens) but why risk the inconvenience of a breakdown if a bit of DIY or indeed a local small garage can prevent it and make your car more economical at the same time.

Servicing can often pay for itself very very quickly.

Gordon861

I think they put that in there so that if they turn up to a breakdown and find a car that has obviously been abused and not serviced in years they can refuse cover or charge you. Calling the AA out to a puncture when you have 4 bald tyres will not go down well with them.

As long as you take reasonable car of the car it is unlikely you will have any problems.

pinkpong

Back to the subject.
I too have read the small print on the breakdown cover - this is for Europein travel. I t needs to be serviced annually for them to pay , is this right?. Had anybody have the experience that their car was repaired abroad and when they came back they never got anything?
This would have to be in the book as anybody can say that I have serviced it myself.

nomoneytoday

anewman wrote: »

What I meant was diy servicing will cost you £100 at most, avoiding this cheap cost which may damage the car necessitating the purchase of a new one at a higher cost than the servicing is false economy (especially when you add on increased cost of petrol due to reduced mpg). Nothing wrong with couple hundred quid motors

An oil and filter change is around £20-30 at the chain places. They offer them as loss leaders to get bums on seats. The oil alone would cost about the same, and it saves getting your hands dirty