Servicing

Woolwich_Kim

Thanks mad_rich, will look into ATS. Never heard of them before but if it's free it's worth a look.

forgotmyname

Low mileage cars need more servicing. Every year at least.

Sitting idle and short journeys causes the oil to brteakdown as you dont get the engine upto temperature regular enough to burn off the deposits that build up in the engine.

When you come to sell people wont like the fact you have not serviced it for 3 years and will offer less money.

Ultrasonic

We don't actually know that the OP's car is only used for short trips. My parents do low mileage as they are retired and make good use of their free bus passes. They use their car for longer trips when the bus would be too time consuming, so their average journey length likely higher than many people who do more typical annual mileages.

Obviously when you are looking to buy a low mileage car you have no way of knowing what sort of use the car has had though, so I for one would likely look elsewhere.

Iceweasel

I would also suggest changing the coolant/antifreeze - it will almost certainly have lost it's anti-corrosion qualities.

Retrogamer

IanRi wrote: »

An MoT is simply checking the car is safe/legal to drive on the road, not whether it is in good mechanical condition.

It's not even that. You can pass an MOT with a potentially unsafe car which is illegal to drive on the road and vice versa. You can fail an MOT for stuff that wouldn't be a problem to drive on the road with.

As for the OP's questions regarding servicing.

With my cars and me doing approx 12k a year
Engine oil + filter every 5k miles
Air filter, diesel fuel filter & pollen filter annually
Gearbox oil, engine coolant & brake fluid every 2 years.

I always try and buy OEM grade as well

Licketysplit

I only average around 5k miles a year in mine at the moment this will go up this year due to a longer school run . I have already had it serviced twice since i bought it last August an oil / filter change in nov 2012 then a major service in june 2013 when i had my MOT done granted next year car will be 10 yrs old it will still continue to have an annual service every time it has it's MOT as advised by the garage i have taken my cars to for the past 9 yrs , I'm hoping if i ever sell it it will show its been well looked after plus i want to reduce the possibility of anything major going wrong