Lack of maintenance killing cars

poppasmurf_bewdley

For the last 10 years, the only service I've ever done on any car I've owned is an oil and filter change at MOT time, brakes and tyres when necessary, and that's about it. Not a single breakdown in that time.

Last year, I bought a Dacia Sandero Stepway, which had a recall for a fuel pipe. It took half an hour, but when I got home, I received this email which certainly made the dealer go up in my estimation.

https://video.citnow.com/vt47dT3QBbJ

But basically, they've told me what work my car needs. New wipers today or tomorrow, depending on the crowds or lack of them in town near Halfords.

Joe_Horner

EssexExile wrote: »

As others have said, cars don't need much checking now & they last longer than they used to. My early cars needed the battery, coolant & oil topping up regularly, belts re-tightening, nipples greased, tyres pumped up, etc. Now I check the oil, coolant, brake fluid & tyres once in a while but can't remember the last time I actually had to top any of them up.

Be honest, though, don't you secretly miss greasing your nipples on a cold Sunday in January? :beer:

bob_a_builder

I received this email which certainly made the dealer go up in my estimation.

So the outer surface of the tyre is in good condition
Last time I looked a tyre has two sides ?

jimjames

sevenhills wrote: »

My last two cars both cost less than £500, a service at a dealer can cost more than the value of the car.
Is it just me that gets MOT advisories for tyres at 3mm, no where near the legal limit, advisories that seem invented?

Not sure if it's just you as I can't answer for everyone else but I've not had any invented advisories from the garage I use.

sevenhills wrote: »

I do less than 5,000 miles per year, the car has done 95,000 miles so it could break down with an uneconomical repair at any time.

I'm not sure how you extrapolate 95k miles as being likely to have an uneconomic repair at any time. Surely it depends on the age of the car. My car was at 95k miles at 2 years old, it would have been very unlucky to have a repair that wasn't viable. I also don't think you can automatically assume that 95k miles means it could break down at any moment. If serviced properly it shouldn't have much more risk than a car with 40k miles.

Jonesya

I'm sure some people are losing their cars early due to inadequate maintenance, but then that's up to them - they can chose to invest some time, effort and expense to investigate what their car needs and keep it properly maintained, or they can chose not to do this, and either replace more often or pay for more major repairs. But ultimately that's a persons choice, and that choice between some time/effort/cost upfront to save over time vs. larger costs in the future, applies to lots of things in life.

Many people do prefer to pay higher prices to buy themselves some certainty and hand any problems over to someone else - hence the popularity of new cars on PCP/HP, quite expensive but certainty over payments and with protection from manufacturer's warranty. Some people like that.

I'd say that the internet has now made DIY maintenance far easier - there's so much information and videos available online on car forums, and car parts and tools available at low cost from a vast range of online retailers.

System

sevenhills wrote: »

My last two cars both cost less than £500, a service at a dealer can cost more than the value of the car.
Is it just me that gets MOT advisories for tyres at 3mm, no where near the legal limit, advisories that seem invented?

They're not invented. Tyre performance in the wet deteriorates more rapidly once you get below 3mm. At 3mm they're going to need replacing before the next MOT. An advisory on the MOT is a way of notifying an owner who may never ever check their tyres from one MOT to another. If my tyres are at 3mm when we enter winter I replace them and I've just done that this last week for some nice new Goodyear all season tyres so I don't have the farce I did last winter.

As an apprentice trained mechanic we were also taught to advise on a service report when brake pads were down to 3mm because they'd need changing before the next service in the majority of cases.

As for 95,000 miles being a point where cars are expected to break down with an uneconomical repair, not any time in the last decade would be my response. Hell mine has 139,000 on and I don't expect any uneconomical repairs. My last car when I sold it had 168,000 miles on and I didn't expect it to have any uneconomical repairs and I both expected it to do our annual 2000 miles in a week round trip to France needing to do nothing more than put diesel in and to pass a MOT every year and got that happen right up until I sold it. It only had one MOT fail in the 75,000 miles I had it and that was at 155,000 miles for a seized rear brake caliper handbrake mechanism.

AdrianC

sevenhills wrote: »

Is it just me that gets MOT advisories for tyres at 3mm, no where near the legal limit, advisories that seem invented?

An advisory is just the tester saying "It's passed, but you should be aware of..."

Advising that tyres are down to 3mm - the point at which their water dispersal ability starts to become seriously compromised, and not that much further to illegality - seems to be a very sensible move to me. In a thread about how basic maintenance and checks are often omitted by many drivers, the only surprise is that you're somehow taking offence at it.

motorguy

jimjames wrote: »

I'm not sure how you extrapolate 95k miles as being likely to have an uneconomic repair at any time. Surely it depends on the age of the car. My car was at 95k miles at 2 years old, it would have been very unlucky to have a repair that wasn't viable. I also don't think you can automatically assume that 95k miles means it could break down at any moment. If serviced properly it shouldn't have much more risk than a car with 40k miles.

He said his car cost him less than £500, so i'm guessing it wouldnt take a massive failure to put the cost of the repair > cost of replacing it with similar.

Also, if its a diesel, then a turbo failure, injectors, pump, DPF, DMF or EGR valve failure could all fall in to that category.

A petrol N/A car then probably unlikely to be hit with a big bill at that price point.

System

Jonesya wrote: »

I'd say that the internet has now made DIY maintenance far easier - there's so much information and videos available online on car forums, and car parts and tools available at low cost from a vast range of online retailers.

This. In fact it is so prevalent it forced Ford to change their stance on MK4 Mondeo rear trailing link arm bushes when they fail (common issue every 70k) from having to replace the whole arm at £250+ per side to selling just the bush and main dealers just changing the bush and not the whole arm for £200 for BOTH sides. This was as a direct result of third parties bringing out bushes and tools to change them and widespread Youtube videos showing how to do it without even needing to remove the arm from the car.

motorguy

In many ways its easier, but 95% of people dont want to be bothered. I know i dont.

I'd rather pay someone else to do it. My free time is too precious to spend it underneath a car and i dont get great pleasure from it any more, though i know some people do.

I think people should maintain their cars better, but proposing everyone does it themselves is a hard sell.

I've a local mechanic less than a mile away who charges £20 an hour. My last guy was £15 an hour but he's 15 miles away since we moved house so not worth the round trips. I dont begrudge either of them that hourly rate.