Getting your car serviced regularly is a vital part of ownership, no matter what type of car you drive – whether it’s a brand-new vehicle or a second-hand one from one of our salvage car auctions. Now, we know that nobody will ever be too keen on paying yet another cost for their vehicle, especially when the benefits aren’t immediately tangible. But while a car service might cost you a bit of money in the short term, it can produce some major savings for you in the long term. Here are the essentials of what you need to know!
What is a car service?
In a nutshell, a car service is the catch-all term for a series of maintenance and repair procedures, typically applied to a car once it’s been driven a certain number of miles, or for a set amount of time. The recommended service of each individual car will be affected by a number of factors, including its manufacturer, its type, features, and how intensively it’s been used.
A car service is not to be confused with an MOT (Ministry Of Transport) test. An MOT is a legal requirement for every car, designed to ensure that it maintains basic standards of roadworthiness to prevent it from becoming a danger to the driver and everyone around it.
One of the key differences it’s worth remembering is that MOT is legally mandated, whereas a car service is technically optional – but strongly recommended.
Why should I get my car serviced?
Essentially, to save you money, time and hassle. Giving your car a regular service helps ensure that it remains in peak condition, and the key benefit of this is that it will save you from costly breakdowns or parts failures – giving you more peace of mind in the long run.
While an MOT test ensures a basic standard of safety and roadworthiness, a service places an even greater focus on what’s called preventative maintenance – in other words, identifying and resolving issues before they evolve into more pressing (and expensive) issues. That encompasses not just the most safety-critical issues, like those covered by an MOT, but also features for comfort and convenience too, like infotainment systems.
Spotting these issues early can make all the difference as to the ultimate time, effort and costs required to deal with them, so while the cost of a service might not seem very appealing at first glance, it can save you a lot of money in the long run. If your vehicle is brand new, it might not need a full service for a little while, but it’s something that bears increasing amounts of consideration as time goes on.
How often should I have a service?
The short answer to this question is – generally, once or twice a year. To expand on that a little, the recommended service interval for each car varies by manufacturer. However, most manufacturers almost universally recommend having a full car service at least once a year, or every 12,000 miles (whichever one comes first). It also means that’s going to at least partially depend on the specifics of your car – its make, build and mileage etc – as well as how intensively you drive it.
Your logbook or V5C should tell you when the car was last serviced. Once you’ve had it serviced in turn, your mechanic should update it. If you own a car with an on-board computer like an infotainment system or in-built sat-nav, you may also find that sends you reminders as to when the car thinks a service is due, and if there are any faults to be aware of in the meantime.
If you do ever need any replacement parts for your car, our online salvage auctions may be the first place your mechanic looks! But as a driver, if you think your car might need replacing, or you’re looking for another second-hand car for whatever reason, we can help there too.
We’ve got a huge range of salvage cars to choose from in our online car auctions, including many from world-famous brands like Mercedes, Vauxhall and Renault. Our auctions are refreshed on a daily and weekly basis, so there are always bargains to be found. Why not take a look around, and see what you can find?
