Bi-Annual Servicing

[Car mad enthusiast]

Jon39 said:

Car mad enthusiast said:

As long as you run the car up regularly and drive her around on the driveway regularly and keep a C-Tek connected and do regular driver checks between your 2 yearly services then all be be well.

Small point.

During the periods when mine is not used, I only do a 4 weekly engine start, if I can also immediately do a 20 to 30 mile drive. I have tried to avoid moving around the driveway. By taking for a drive, the car is put away for its next rest when everything is hot, brake discs are shiny and all startup moisture should have been cleared from the exhaust system.

I try hard to look after the beauty, and presumably I am doing the right things. Helpful suggestions though, are always appreciated.

I think you are doing fine already with your current procedures. +1

[Car mad enthusiast]

Yes you are doing fine.

Enjoy the blasts.

blade runner said:

Based on all the advice I think I'll skip the annual service this autumn and do the next one April next year before the car starts to get more regular use after next winter. It's been garaged, hooked up to a battery conditioner and taken out for a decent 20-30 mile blast every 5-6 weeks this winter, so sounds like I'm doing the right things anyway to mitigate any possible issues.

[redkite]

Im a less than a thousand miles a year user.
When i traded my 2008 V8V in a couple of years ago for my V8VS i mentioned to the salesman my mileage and asked how it would have affected the trade in value, had i done 2 year services. He said that with that mileage it would have no real effect on the price so i am about to go for 18 months on my 2011 V8VS which i intend to keep.

[gibbon]

I must be in the vast minority then, but i wouldnt buy a performance car that hadnt been serviced inline with the manufacturers recommendations, I can understand the logic, but 2 years is a long time for a car of this type to before a thorough check and to me scrimping on a £700 service on a £100k car is not indicative of the type of previous owner i want to buy from.

When buying both my porsches, and both my vantages I've turned down examples with missing services. You may well think a car is a keep, but I'd wager more often than not, they tend not to be.

[bogie]

But they are not really £100k cars people are scrimping on ? Its not the first owner not bothering with a service as I think the majority get that its good to have dealer stamps for the first few years. After all, If you can afford to burn £40k in depreciation for the pleasure of having a new car you can afford a few grand in servicing

Its on 8/9/10/11 year old cars worth £25K trade in doing 1000 miles a year as weekend toys.

However, on a 10 year old car you are even more so reliant on condition/history, so if you look at 1 car thats had £££ thrown at it to keep it like new or another thats had bare min and 2 year oil changes, which are you going to buy? ...this could be a downside come resale

[gibbon]

bogie said:

But they are not really £100k cars people are scrimping on ? Its not the first owner not bothering with a service as I think the majority get that its good to have dealer stamps for the first few years. After all, If you can afford to burn £40k in depreciation for the pleasure of having a new car you can afford a few grand in servicing

Its on 8/9/10/11 year old cars worth £25K trade in doing 1000 miles a year as weekend toys.

However, on a 10 year old car you are even more so reliant on condition/history, so if you look at 1 car thats had £££ thrown at it to keep it like new or another thats had bare min and 2 year oil changes, which are you going to buy? ...this could be a downside come resale

Your latter point, is the same as my point, i think. There are plenty of Astons of all ages that have wanted for nothing out there, theres some that have missed the odd service and are running on lower brand tyres for example, and theres some outright neglected examples. Of the three broad groups, which do you buy? Honestly, i think theres only one answer for everyone, given the choice of all three.

Suddenly scrimping on that service doesnt seem too clever, for many reasons, but if cost is of a concern, then i dont think its wise to miss a service long term.

[Dewi 1]

gibbon said:

You may well think a car is a keep, but I'd wager more often than not, they tend not to be.

Yes, I have noticed that too. People buy their 'keeper', then later sell it.

I though have proper keepers. My wife used to say, "Why do you want all those cars". After noticing a car like my very first purchase sell at auction, she suddenly stopped making such comments. -

I stretch my Aston Martin servicing now, not purely to save money, but because of the low mileage. Every two years should be fine, but I am not saying leave certain items for too long. No one will be asking me how many stamps are in the book.

Edited by Dewi 1 on Wednesday 29th March 20:42

[Ken Figenus]

Its interesting this 'transition point' between 'fairly new' where every stamp counts to a more a 'low annual mileage older cherished model' situation. This is surely the point where more pragmatic servicing and the realities of a seller and his paperwork meeting the needs of his buyer could be more applicable and real?

I expect no dealer to 'Totally Approve' such thoughts though or have such a 'Totally Approved Thoughts' sticker in the windscreen!

Lets just separate the marketing from the actual physics and mechanics? I say this particularly as I was disgraced by a local dealer rejecting my folder of paperwork for a car I just part exed - this valuable provenance had no store and zero value in their books. In my mind it had a far greater value than any stamp in a book for any 10 yr old car that was well looked after...

PS they (BMW) don't even DO or include service books on new cars any more - they will sell you one for £25 though... How does that compute...

Edited by Ken Figenus on Wednesday 29th March 20:59

[Car mad enthusiast]

Have you been able to find out yet who has bought your old car and then kindly send them your folder directly to them which I am sure they would be delighted with. I know I would be.

Ken Figenus said:

Its interesting this 'transition point' between 'fairly new' where every stamp counts to a more a 'low annual mileage older cherished model' situation. This is surely the point where more pragmatic servicing and the realities of a seller and his paperwork meeting the needs of his buyer could be more applicable and real?

I expect no dealer to 'Totally Approve' such thoughts though or have such a 'Totally Approved Thoughts' sticker in the windscreen!

Lets just separate the marketing from the actual physics and mechanics? I say this particularly as I was disgraced by a local dealer rejecting my folder of paperwork for a car I just part exed - this valuable provenance had no store and zero value in their books. In my mind it had a far greater value than any stamp in a book for any 10 yr old car that was well looked after...

PS they (BMW) don't even DO or include service books on new cars any more - they will sell you one for £25 though... How does that compute...

Edited by Ken Figenus on Wednesday 29th March 20:59

[HBradley]

gibbon said:

You may well think a car is a keep, but I'd wager more often than not, they tend not to be.

How true that statement is! Whether it's benign delusion or genuine change of circumstances, we are kidding ourselves if we think our current Aston Martin is going to be our last!!!
I love my V8 Vantage S & enjoy every moment in it, but I'm also in no doubt that within 4 years I will be bringing out the 'Man Maths Calculator' & start looking for something with a V12 upfront!
I've even created a spreadsheet with the current depreciation on mine compared to the models I'm interested in to work out what it's (probably)going to cost to upgrade. How sad is that!!!

[Ken Figenus]

Car mad enthusiast said:

Have you been able to find out yet who has bought your old car and then kindly send them your folder directly to them which I am sure they would be delighted with. I know I would be.

Not sure how I'd find out who has it now but yes I too would love to know that I replaced all the turbo vaccum pipes, removed the engine destroying swirl flaps and serviced the gearbox etc That's about a grands worth there alone... Its why I'm still keeping my folder...

[blade runner]

Of course it's a possibility that I won't keep the car forever, but I haven't seen anything from AM yet that would tempt me away to be honest. Maybe the new Vantage, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what that looks like later this year.

Even if I do eventually decide to trade up, the car will probably be 15+ years old and given my current annual mileage, will still be under 40k whereas a lot of the other similar age cars will likely be pushing 100k+ by then. Will a potential buyer be so completely put off purely because of 18 month service intervals as opposed to 12 month ones over the past 5 years? Somehow I doubt it and I'm anyway happy to take that risk, especially as I've not heard any sound 'mechanical' reasons why 12 monthly servicing is essential.

[Zod]

I do about 500 miles per year, have it serviced annually and tend to have to top up the oil two or three times a year.

[Upperworks]

I know it's a different point, but if I drove mine as much as you guys, I'd sell them.

I've done over 2000 miles in my Vanquish since Xmas, as well as some miles in my V12V and that's just without trying.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never aspired to own Aston Martins. I aspired to drive them.

[bogie]

Zod said:

I do about 500 miles per year, have it serviced annually and tend to have to top up the oil two or three times a year.

where is all the oil going ?

If I do 6K miles in mine I maybe top up once or twice and put 1-2L in

If you top up full, in 500 miles you shouldnt really be using much oil surely ?

[bogie]

Upperworks said:

I know it's a different point, but if I drove mine as much as you guys, I'd sell them.

I've done over 2000 miles in my Vanquish since Xmas, as well as some miles in my V12V and that's just without trying.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never aspired to own Aston Martins. I aspired to drive them.

Same here, I cant justify owning any vehicle to do 500 or 1000 miles in...just does not seem worth the hassle insuring/taxing/servicing ...I do more than that on a push bike each year

I judge how nice a year Ive had, by how many pleasure miles Ive driven in the Vantage and on my motorcycles .....if I drive 15k on business, I like to do another 10-15k miles for pleasure too spread across the "toy" vehicles

[Jon39]

bogie said:

... I cant justify owning any vehicle to do 500 or 1000 miles in...just does not seem worth the hassle insuring/taxing/servicing ...

That is great, they are certainly a thrill to drive.

I think that when these cars can be considered works of art, some of us end up treating them as such.

One or two contributors have admitted sitting in their garage, enjoying a drink and looking at the Aston Martin.
That is great too.

[Upperworks]

Jon39 said:

That is great, they are certainly a thrill to drive.

I think that when these cars can be considered works of art, some of us end up treating them as such.

One or two contributors have admitted sitting in their garage, enjoying a drink and looking at the Aston Martin.
That is great too.

If I just wanted to look at one I'd go sit in a dealership and drink their coffee for free I don't need to own art to appreciate it.

If it's mine, I'd drive it somewhere with a beautiful view and look at it there. Win/win.

[The Surveyor]

The OP doesn't say where he's getting his car serviced at the moment, if he's using a main dealer cheaper regular servicing would be better than expensive infrequent IMHO.

If you're looking to save money on servicing an older, low-mileage car, surely you're better of sticking to the 12 month service interval and using an independent Aston services garage, than dropping down to 18 or 24 month intervals.

[Shnozz]

bogie said:

Upperworks said:

I know it's a different point, but if I drove mine as much as you guys, I'd sell them.

I've done over 2000 miles in my Vanquish since Xmas, as well as some miles in my V12V and that's just without trying.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never aspired to own Aston Martins. I aspired to drive them.

Same here, I cant justify owning any vehicle to do 500 or 1000 miles in...just does not seem worth the hassle insuring/taxing/servicing ...I do more than that on a push bike each year

I judge how nice a year Ive had, by how many pleasure miles Ive driven in the Vantage and on my motorcycles .....if I drive 15k on business, I like to do another 10-15k miles for pleasure too spread across the "toy" vehicles

Hey Mark - thanks for the previous advice on getting me into an Aston..

In my case I would happily do more miles but simply have no need to. I live and work in a city so a month can pass me by without any real reason to get behind the wheel other than simply for pleasure. When I do need a car its usually for a 600 mile round trip back to where I am originally from so Yorkshire to Hampshire and back. Mileage wise it means I probably do 2.5k - 3k pa and its been that way for 8 - 9 years now!

And yes, when I add up the cost of a city centre parking space, insurance (and city centre doesnt help that either!), road tax etc even the fixed costs to just park up each 12 months are extreme, let alone when you add some consumables, a service, fuel and a few faults to fix now and again. The costs per mile are considerable and would no doubt come down a lot if I did more miles..but I dont have any reason to!