Beginner driver, first car .. questions?

orange-juice

Hi there,

I bought Honda Jazz 1.4 (03 plate, 45k on the clock) from a private sellet recently. The previous owner had MOT'd the car in January so thankfully there is no hurry to get that done on my part.

However, I have noticed that the clutch pedal squeeks a bit and the service history is patchy-there's not one done in years - albeit its not done many miles in that time.

Is it worthwhile for me to get a full service done now? Or am I throwing money unnecessarily and should wait for the next mot Are services just done whenever or at a certain mileage?

Sorry I'm new to all of this and appreciate your advice.

Ta!!!128077;!!!128076;

BeenThroughItAll

orange-juice wrote: »

Hi there,

I bought Honda Jazz 1.4 (03 plate, 45k on the clock) recently. The previous owner had MOT'd the car in January so thankfully there is no hurry to get that done in my part.

However, I have noticed that the clutch pedal squeeks a bit and the service history is patchy-there's not one done in years - albeit its not done many miles in that time.

Is it worthwhile for me to get a full service done now? Or am I throwing money unnecessarily and should wait for the next mot Are services just done whenever or at a certain mileage?

Sorry I'm new to all of this and appreciate your advice.

Ta!!!128077;!!!128076;

Yes, have it serviced if no evidence of it being done recently.


Have the car serviced in future in accordance with the manufacturer's schedule, which will be in the service book.

Zeitgeist

It is always a good idea from a financial point of view as well as getting to know how well your car works, is to learn to do some minor servicing jobs yourself.

The best thing you can do with a car with an unknown service history is to do a oil and oil filter changes, air filter, pollen filter, and at the very least inspect the spark plugs (on a petrol). A visual inspection of the brakes would be the next step to ensure that your brake pads have enough meat on them.

Fixing a squeaking clutch pedal is likely just to need a spot of grease or even some WD40 sprayed on the pedal joint. It's unlikely to be a major issue. If the pedal goes firm or the biting point goes higher than normal or you get clutch slippage is when things get more expensive.

Ebe_Scrooge

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Yes, have it serviced if no evidence of it being done recently.


Have the car serviced in future in accordance with the manufacturer's schedule, which will be in the service book.

^^^^ This.


A couple of points worth mentioning. Firstly, the service schedule will say something along the lines of "Service every 12,000 miles or every 12 months, whichever comes first". So the fact that it's not done many miles is irrelevant - it still needs to be serviced every 12 months, or whatever the service schedule for your particular car dictates.


Secondly, there's no need to take it to a main dealer. Routine servicing is bread & butter to any competent mechanic ( or, as Zeitgeist says, it's actually pretty easy to DIY if you know your way round the basics of a car ). But even if you don't feel confident to tackle it yourself, if you can find a trusted recommended local independant mechanic, you'll likely save yourself a fair amount of cash over the years.

Skipping servicing is a false economy. It doesn't matter whether you've spent £100,000 on a Ferrari, or £1000 on a Ford - whatever you've spent, it's likely to represent a lot of money to you. Servicing is cheap ( well, OK, for a Ferrari it's not .... ) But for "ordinary" cars, servicing is cheap. Would you rather shell out £150 a year and have a car that serves you well for the next 15 years, with no other costs, apart from consumables - and the peace of mind that it's unlikely to break down in the middle of nowhere ? Or would you rather save £150 a year, and potentially have to face finding the money to buy a new car in a couple of years because your old one has gone to the great scrapyard in the sky ?

wgl2014

+1 for getting a service asap.

If money's tight national autocentres do an oil and filter change for about £50.

System

The reason servicing is done on time and not just mileage is because if it spends long periods stood things start to seize up if they're not used. A car not doing a lot of mileage in a year is not a good thing.

Ectophile

I tend to do rather low mileages, not least because I have two cars so the miles are spread between the two. But I always have both serviced every year regardless of how many miles I've done. I generally go with the garage's recommendation of what service to do.

If you're hasn't got a proper recent service history, it's probably long overdue for a major service.

Bigphil1474

OP, I'd suggest you check out the MOT report if you have it - bound to be a few advisories on a car that age. It might have passed the MOT but doesn't mean the tyres will last another year, or the brake pads might be due etc.
Find a good local indy garage - see if friends, family, neighbours etc. can recommend one. I have an 09 fiesta that I service annually, but the local garage is great and don't just go through the servicing list, but actually check the car out thoroughly and let me know whether anything needs doing - imminently, in a few months, or can wait until next year. When I had a bit of play in the steering last year, they were good enough to take it in for the day, checked it all out, and assured me that it was safe to drive - bit of play in the steering rack. They didn't charge me for their time, nor did they try and get me to have any unnecessary work. If you end up at a dodgy garage it will cost you muchos mullah.

orange-juice

Thanks for your input folks, very grateful. I've booked a major service with Kay's in Glasgow on the recommendation of others. Apparently they're very reasonable and don't overcharge on smaller issues.

I'll probably do the smaller stuff like filter changes from Year 1 by myself.

Regarding the next service and MOT, people say you can time it in a way to save money, how does that work logistically? Do you get the service before the MOT (so that things get picked up and ironed out before the test and you aren't paying double?) or the MOT before the service (so that you are only getting serious advisories fixed)? Bit confused by that.

Tarambor wrote: »

The reason servicing is done on time and not just mileage is because if it spends long periods stood things start to seize up if they're not used. A car not doing a lot of mileage in a year is not a good thing.

That's a bit disheartening. The car has done about 5000 in the last 5 years. I thought I was being smart with the low mileage!

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

OP, I'd suggest you check out the MOT report if you have it - bound to be a few advisories on a car that age.

I did extensives checks through the MOT history on the gov (dot uk) website and it does look like the previous owners have corrected a lot of faults (i.e. new battery, new tyres) for this car, thankfully. The gearbox does feel a bit stiff though. Hopefully a change /top up of the transmission fluid as part of the service helps...

mollycat

orange-juice wrote: »

That's a bit disheartening. The car has done about 5000 in the last 5 years. I thought I was being smart with the low mileage!

Don't beat yourself up too much about this, lots of people think like that......including people who try to put a premium on a ridiculously low mileage car when selling.

Hope you didn't pay over the odds because of the mileage?

Well done on trying to learn about properly looking after your purchase though!! :T

daveyjp

Check the age of the tyres too. Look for four numbers stamped on them

First two are the week of the year, second two are the year of manufacture.

If they are getting on, i.e. more than 5 years old consider changing them, regardless of tread depth.

Cars which stand around can end up with flat spots and delaminate, not fun at speed.