Servicing and fixing the car yourself

[isee]

I am hopefully moving to a house with a garage soon
And quite like the idea of looking after my car myself.
I guess it would heavily devalue the car, since the logbook would not be stamped, but is it even legal these days?

i am not talking about any specific car either, just thinking about how Britain no longer manufactures anything anymore and the fact that we are not expected (or possibly are even prevented from) to service our own cars anymore is part of that problem perhaps?

So if i didn't give a damn about the value of my car due to no servicing stamps, but had replaced the oil as per the manufacturer's recommendations and replaced any parts that needed replacing over the years, then was involved in an accident what would then happen to me from the insurance point of view?
What if the mechanical failure was due to something I missed?
What if the mechanical failure was NOT due to something I missed?

[lost in espace]

Just do it yourself and get an mot every year. Its what I do, and use my common sense.

[isee]

lost in espace said:

Just do it yourself and get an mot every year. Its what I do, and use my common sense.

Ok, so if you ran into someone's back due to not seeing that your brake discs had began to crack, would you be any more liable than the person who had the same happen to them but serviced their car at a garage?

[Matt106]

Do it yourself and save £££'s if your not worried about service history.

Aslong as your car passes an MOT every year I cant see why its a problem?

I carry out all the minor repairs/services on my fleet of cars and Ive never had a problem.

[Jonny671]

isee said:

lost in espace said:

Just do it yourself and get an mot every year. Its what I do, and use my common sense.

Ok, so if you ran into someone's back due to not seeing that your brake discs had began to crack, would you be any more liable than the person who had the same happen to them but serviced their car at a garage?

I had a customer trying to tell me that when we done the service on his vehicle last, that we didn't check the tyres and he had a blow out because of it.

His service was 10,000 miles ago, and it says in the handbook its the drivers responsibility to ensure their vehicle is roadworthy.. So IMO it wouldn't make any difference if you done it yourself or if a garage done it. Obviously if you put a new caliper on and didn't do it correctly I think there maybe some form of liability on the workmanship?

[defblade]

isee said:

lost in espace said:

Just do it yourself and get an mot every year. Its what I do, and use my common sense.

Ok, so if you ran into someone's back due to not seeing that your brake discs had began to crack, would you be any more liable than the person who had the same happen to them but serviced their car at a garage?

"Wasn't cracked when we looked at it, officer".

It's always the driver's responsibility to make sure the car is safe before driving it. But a mechanical failure can happen at any time (although the impression I get from police etc on here and elsewhere is that accidents as a genuine result of mechanical failure are quite rare....).

It may affect resale value, especially cars less than 3 years old. On older cars, I'd rather see a pile of receipts for bits and/or work than a load of stamps (stamps available on ebay....)

[toast boy]

Since I started driving I've always serviced and repaired my own cars. When I was younger I used to take them to a garage for particularly tricky jobs but almost anything is done by myself now unless it needs seriously specialist equipment. Occasionally if it's more cost/time efficient for my trusted garage to do, clutch changes tend to fall into this category, my guy can do them a hell of a lot quicker and easier than me and for a very reasonable price. The only cars in our household that were serviced by a dealer were when my dad had cars for work which were all new cars and to protect resale were main dealer serviced. In my opinion, anything older than 3 years could be serviced and repaired with not a great deal of impact on resale value, as long as everything has receipts and is documented.

[ARH]

You buy a car for £10k, spend £400 for dealer service every year, or £100 to do it yourself and keep all reciepts etc. you will almost certainly px it for the same money in either situation. You may get more or sell it easier if you sell privately. anything older than 3 years old I would much rather see reciepts for parts than a stamp in a book. Just look how easy it is to buy a service book on eBay.