Are yearly services worth it on an old car?

andymc29

I have a 2000 W reg Focus, it's just had it's MOT but I've not had it serviced this year. It had one year ago and has been totally fine, the MOT didn't find anything either. I'm thinking of just servicing it every two years, as it's an old car and really not worth spending much on. It's running fine and I'm really just running it into the ground. Am I going to have problems here or is this normal behaviour?

MX5huggy

How many miles per year are you doing?

andymc29

About 12000, and I have full breakdown cover

LandyAndy

Until quite recently I drove a 1995 Peugeot 405. I have no doubt that regular servicing enabled me to reliably do 18,000 miles a year for several years and to reach 245,000 miles in total before I traded it in under the scrappage scheme.

Matt1977

I got my old 1999 SEAT Ibiza serviced annually with the exception for the service due in 2009, when i decided it wasn't worth it. I racked up less than 4,000 miles a year. I did plan on getting it serviced in 2010 if only I hadn't had a crash in it and wrote it off. :mad: On the bright side, at least I didn't shell out for servicing it in 2009.

If for example you drive less than 6,000 miles a year on a car that needs a service every 12,000 miles, I think that skipping a year would be OK.

LandyAndy

andymc29 wrote: »

About 12000, and I have full breakdown cover

Well it could easily last you another 5 years. I wouldn't be happy letting a car go 24,000 miles without any sort of inspection or fluid change (unless, of course, the manufacturer's recommendation's allowed for it).

andymc29

LandyAndy wrote: »

Well it could easily last you another 5 years. I wouldn't be happy letting a car go 24,000 miles without any sort of inspection or fluid change.

No problems there, I topped up the screen wash this morning!!!

Seriously though, it's running fine, it does need a cambelt change which I'm having done next week. I'll get an mini service for it in a few months, I just need to avoid big costs right now as I've got my insurance due in a week too.

LandyAndy

andymc29 wrote: »

No problems there, I topped up the screen wash this morning!!!

Seriously though, it's running fine, it does need a cambelt change which I'm having done next week. I'll get an mini service for it in a few months, I just need to avoid big costs right now as I've got my insurance due in a week too.

Well, you pays your money (or not;)) and you takes your choice.

Ebe_Scrooge

To be honest, skipping the service altogether is false economy. I do, however, completely understand where you're coming from, especially on an older car.

Probably the best advice would be to change the oil and filter regularly. This is a very easy job to do ( with the help of a Haynes manual if you've never done any car maintenance before ), and is the single most important thing you can do to keep your car healthy and happy :-)

If you want to go a bit further, things like changing air, fuel and pollen filters are also pretty simple tasks, though arguably not as crucial as regular oil + filter changes.

In actual fact, it's not difficult to do a full service yourself - and you'll save a packet on garage charges, when you're not worried about maintaining the warranty any more ( personally I like doing my own as I know it's been done right using decent quality parts ).

But to reiterate the point, if you're really watching the pennies, then just do the oil + filter regularly.

zappahey

I'd be quite uncomfortable that safety related items, such as brake wear, was not being checked. If you can't do it yourself, it would be worth having someone look it over once a year or so.

[Deleted User]

My car is a 51 reg and I had it last serviced last April. Not planning on getting it serviced this year yet as I've only done 6K miles since.

But I am planning on getting new discs, pads, flexi hoses, and front wishbones done soon. As the discs were advised on the service last year and the flexi hoses were advised on the MOT last winter.

Planning on keeping this car for years to come unless I ever need something bigger.