Servicing waste of money?
Discussion
Having run a 05 vauxhall combo 1.3 cdti that has done 120,000 miles on two oil change since 48,000 miles, had half a tank of unleaded in it, no mechanical sympathy and no problems, is servicing nowadays on modern cars a bit of a con with the advances in oil technology and manufacturing quality?
Edited by caterhamboy on Monday 25th July 23:18
Dunno. My 1995 Citroen ZX diesel (120k) doesn't seem to have been serviced in 8 years/70k according to the history, but it seems fine (hasn't stopped me doing cambelt/tensioners/waterpump/oil/filters though, for peace of mind and whatnot).
Then again there was a thread the other day about people not looking after cars, running them dry and siezing them solid, so who can tell.
Then again there was a thread the other day about people not looking after cars, running them dry and siezing them solid, so who can tell.
It's certainly possible to run cars huge distances/times without servicing them. The OH's Punto seems to be plodding along just fine with no preventative maintenance in the five years we've had it. Fuel economy has fallen a bit since we've had it (maybe 2mpg). I suspect the cam belt will kill it in the end.
On the other hand, I service the Lotus religiously because it's worth enough that I'm not willing to take the risk of killing it.
On the other hand, I service the Lotus religiously because it's worth enough that I'm not willing to take the risk of killing it.
It doesn't do any harm to change the oil and maybe give the car a check over. It depends on what you can do to a car yourself. A car could keep running but maybe not as efficiently as it would without a service. Certainly main dealers do little to a car when it's serviced but then they hit you with a lower part ex value if your car doesn't have main dealer service history.
twazzock said:
Dunno. My 1995 Citroen ZX diesel (120k) doesn't seem to have been serviced in 8 years/70k according to the history, but it seems fine (hasn't stopped me doing cambelt/tensioners/waterpump/oil/filters though, for peace of mind and whatnot).
So it hasn't been serviced in 8 years/70k - apart from all the thorough servicing you've done to it that is? 
Well, I always have, and do service my cars to the manufacturers service schedule, and seem to get highish mileage from them and, generally, they are reliable in return.
My son on the other hand, runs his 1.4 ibiza diesel wth minimal servicing, and fixes when broke, and his car is also running towards 160k. His car is used constantly, day in day out, on long runs only, so maybe there's something in that.
My son on the other hand, runs his 1.4 ibiza diesel wth minimal servicing, and fixes when broke, and his car is also running towards 160k. His car is used constantly, day in day out, on long runs only, so maybe there's something in that.
Oil changes are worth every penny, so are the obvious bits which you can do yourself. Anything more serious, wait until it's broken 
Girlfriends KA has covered nearly 50k in 3 years with just basic servicing (oil, plugs and filter) every 15,000 miles, and the odd lead when they've broken apart. Wouldn't want to try that on a new 911 though...
Girlfriends KA has covered nearly 50k in 3 years with just basic servicing (oil, plugs and filter) every 15,000 miles, and the odd lead when they've broken apart. Wouldn't want to try that on a new 911 though...
Blue Oval84 said:
A lot of the people on my team at work are of the opinion that servicing is too expensive so why bother? They rely on the MOT to catch anything seriously dodgy and just change cars once they're half way through the finance.
No doubt they carry a spare set of brake pads in the boot - just in case.Who needs filters anyway....
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