Should I bother getting my car serviced?

mikey72

pinkteapot wrote: »

52-plate Mk4 Astra, 112k miles. Up until now it has a full service history (I've had the car since 2008/80k miles). MOT and annual service are due in May.

Thing is, as of last summer it's our second car and does a very low mileage. We plan to keep it until it goes to car heaven, so I don't think it's worth maintaining the FSH in terms of its value. Plus how much value does a FSH add to a car that's probably down to about £1k worth anyway?

If it was still the car we used for long runs/holidays then I would get it serviced but it's just a town runaround now and we have Green Flag cover anyway if it breaks down.

We check the oil, screen wash and tyre pressure/tread ourselves but that's all we do.

Pros/cons of servicing? I've never had a car and not serviced it.

I always change the oil and filter every year, cambelt every 60, 000 miles. So 130k for the cambelt, or every 5 years.
Rest of the servicing I do myself, and write it in the book, as and when on the milage.
I think when you get to that age, FSH annually doesn't matter anymore.

Destination_..._?

If you are going to still use this car for ' short journeys ' then yes to keep it road worthy and economical some type of servcing should be done on it .

techspec

I used to buy newish cars and get them serviced regularly. Every time i left the garage i seemed to have problems. One time my car broke down leaving the garage.

Since then i have used auctions to buy cheaper cars - and have scrapped servicing. Result - 15 years of trouble free motoring with no MOT failures and nothing to buy but tyres, bulbs etc. I do sometimes treat them to an oil/filter change. My cars are well known for being trouble free and no servicing. People shake their heads and laugh at my 'luck'.

My last car was v cheap with low mileage. I had a vouchers for a free service - so i decided to give it a 'good start'. It was done at a big garage - but they appointed some spotty little kid who should have been working at McDonalds to do it. He crunched through the gearbox just trying to get it in the service bay. Within a day of the service - the engine light came on. Within months the handbrake cable, which they had adjusted - went out of the range of the lever.

So i will return to oil and filter changes only in future. If its not broke - don't fix it.

I would recommend cam belts though. I have had one fitted in 15 years - the others were not due,

s_b

techspec wrote: »

I used to buy newish cars and get them serviced regularly. Every time i left the garage i seemed to have problems. One time my car broke down leaving the garage.

Since then i have used auctions to buy cheaper cars - and have scrapped servicing. Result - 15 years of trouble free motoring with no MOT failures and nothing to buy but tyres, bulbs etc. I do sometimes treat them to an oil/filter change. My cars are well known for being trouble free and no servicing. People shake their heads and laugh at my 'luck'.

My last car was v cheap with low mileage. I had a vouchers for a free service - so i decided to give it a 'good start'. It was done at a big garage - but they appointed some spotty little kid who should have been working at McDonalds to do it. He crunched through the gearbox just trying to get it in the service bay. Within a day of the service - the engine light came on. Within months the handbrake cable, which they had adjusted - went out of the range of the lever.

So i will return to oil and filter changes only. If its not broke - don't fix it.

I would recommend cam belts though. I have had one fitted in 15 years - the others were not due,

checking a car over last month with a very long mot and i found both front brake hoses had been fitted to the front struts upside down (punto) both the hoses had worn through to the point one was about to pop
i strongly suggest not doing basic safety checks is dangerous and is the reason vosa have to do them at the roadside so often