Bi-Annual Servicing

[blade runner]

My '06 Vantage was last serviced just before I purchased back in August 2016. Since then I've only managed to put 500 miles or so on the clock and will maybe add another 1,000-1,500 before this August. I was planning to get another service this autumn just to keep the annual stamps going in my service book, but now wondering if it's really essential given the low mileage since the previous service.

I can see why annual services are preferred on newer cars, but mine is over ten years old now and I've no intention of selling any time soon, so any possible effect on re-sale value doesn't particularly bother me. Servicing every other year would obviously save me some money, but just wanted to check first to see if there is any particular (mechanical) reason why an annual service is required?

[blade runner]

Thanks for all the comments. My car is a keeper, so the stamps are not that important to me - just trying to save myself some money if there's no good mechanical reason why it needs a service every year given the limited mileage.

It's not like it's getting no use at all and standing in the garage all year - I just don't use it that regularly and when I do it tends not to be big distances. Oil level has not dropped since I bought it last year and I fully intend on getting a full service every second year, so I think the risks are quite small. Like others have said, plenty of other manufacturers do servicing every two years or related to mileage and it's not like the 4.3 engine is especially complex or known to be fragile.

[blade runner]

Big Ry said:

500 miles in 9 months......I hope you were either banned or in prison as I see no other valid reason for such tardiness

I know - hanging my head in shame as I type.

In my defence, I didn't buy until September last year and then was away a lot with work so not much chance to take it out before winter set in. Make no apologies for not putting in many winter miles as it was always intended to be dry miles only. I've kept it ticking over since then with the odd expedition out every 4-5 weeks and hopefully with spring now coming will be out a lot more. Would have loved to have been out last weekend as the weather was lovely. Unfortunately I was in Barcelona where it was pissing it down - typical...

[blade runner]

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.

[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.

[blade runner]

I'd quite like to drive mine a bit more, but it's not always that easy. For starters I wouldn't risk taking it to work during the week as it's a massive shared car park with narrow spaces and very few people using it seem to know how to open their doors without dinging the car next to them. It's also only 1.5miles down the road from home, so would actually be quite damaging for the car as it'd never get fully warmed up.

So that leaves weekends. I've got two small kids, a one acre garden and I also run, cycle and swim a fair bit so available time to spend hooning around in the Aston is limited. I really love my car, but motoring is just one of the things I like to do. As it's not a daily driver, I actually quite like the sense of occasion when I do get to take it out. Each to their own!

Edited by blade runner on Thursday 30th March 13:56

[blade runner]

This is my second Vantage and I'm under no illusions that they are expensive cars to own/maintain. I have no problem with comparatively high running costs and I know spares are always going to be expensive. For me, the expenses are worth it to have my dream car in the garage. I'm by no means well off, but when I decided to buy last year I worked our worst-case scenario costs and figured it was affordable. I've a lump sum put away to cover any large expenses such as a new clutch and I save a fixed amount every month to cover annual service, tyres, insurance etc.

My only reason in asking about lengthening the service intervals was based on my low mileage and whether this negated the need for religious annual servicing. Even though I do have the available money to take to my main dealer every year if I wanted to, I don't see the point in wasting money if there's no 'mechanical' argument for an annual service. I think it was a reasonable question to ask, and I haven't heard one practical reason (only lots of emotional ones) why this would be detrimental to the well-being of my car.

[blade runner]

Of course, no offence taken! Always interesting to find out how different people drive and look after their cars.