Get car serviced at main dealer or local garage?

almillar

I cant believe any sane person would suggest spannering yourself on an 18 month old Land Rover when there is so much at risk. Banal!

You'd rather pay the main dealership to perform routine maintenace like calibrating the carburetor and inspecting the points?!:eek:

motorguy

almillar wrote: »

You'd rather pay the main dealership to perform routine maintenace like calibrating the carburetor and inspecting the points?!:eek:

:eek:

:rotfl:

fred246

If you have a new car and you plan to sell it after 3 years it will be OK without being serviced. You don't want it servicing but you want stamps in the book. So if you take a new car to the main dealer for a few hundred pounds they will stamp the book. Neither party is bothered if anything is actually done. If you plan on keeping the car for years you want it looking after properly and services actually being done. The oil change is the most important part. The only way to ensure it is properly serviced is to do it yourself. I have only ever had one warranty repair and they did quite a bit of damage to my car which was harder to sort out than just repairing it myself.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

If you have a new car and you plan to sell it after 3 years it will be OK without being serviced. You don't want it servicing but you want stamps in the book. So if you take a new car to the main dealer for a few hundred pounds they will stamp the book. Neither party is bothered if anything is actually done. If you plan on keeping the car for years you want it looking after properly and services actually being done. The oil change is the most important part. The only way to ensure it is properly serviced is to do it yourself. I have only ever had one warranty repair and they did quite a bit of damage to my car which was harder to sort out than just repairing it myself.

Words fail me.

fred246

My own cars I change the oil more frequently than recommended. They are super reliable, last much longer than average, have fabulous MOT histories. With a modern car averaging 12000 miles a year I reckon it would get to 3 years/36000 miles without an oil change and not show any problems.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

My own cars I change the oil more frequently than recommended. They are super reliable, last much longer than average, have fabulous MOT histories. With a modern car averaging 12000 miles a year I reckon it would get to 3 years/36000 miles without an oil change and not show any problems.

And on a new car, you would invalidate the warranty by doing so.

Interestingly, modern cars can go generally 18,000 miles between scheduled services. Are you saying that people should forgo the cost of one service - perhaps £180-200 at a main dealers to keep the three year warranty intact (assuming 12,000 miles a year)?

flashg67

OP if you've got this far, please, for the of everything holy etc, do not follow fred246's advice. Not sure if he's serious or just bored and fancied a bit of random trolling!

I have seen so many expensive failures by people not bothering with servicing. My own opinion, whilst it's in warranty, get it done at a dealer

fred246

Cars do need servicing which is why if you know what you are doing it's far better to service them yourself. When you take it to any garage numerous surveys have shown that it's a lottery as to whether anything is actually done. People aren't bothered though because if you have a dealer stamp in the book you can pass the car on to someone else. Modern cars need oil changes but there is much less else to do. Lots of things like "check the wiring' appear on the schedule. Wires go all over the place and much is hidden so it's pretty pointless. They just tick the box and tell the customer that "all this has been done". If the OP is selling the car on the best advice is probably to get a main dealer stamp but it doesn't mean the main dealer will actually even look at the car.

fred246

I normally keep my car's 15-20 years so they are normally out of warranty. Being in warranty would mean I would have to take it to the buffoons at the garage for repairs and I would rather just do it myself.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

I normally keep my car's 15-20 years so they are normally out of warranty. Being in warranty would mean I would have to take it to the buffoons at the garage for repairs and I would rather just do it myself.

So you're contradicting yourself now - you said not to take it to the main dealers when in manufacturers warranty, now you're saying if your car was, you would?

Also your input and your approach, giving your car(s) are longsince outside the warranty is totally irrelevant to the O/P and their situation.