Servicing own car good/bad idea?

[lookingforajob]

I'm pretty short on money at the moment. However my car is around 10k miles after it's last service. To me it should have another one.

I'm perfectly competent in doing the service. Previously I've taken engines out, taken gearboxes out and done a lot of work on cars. I also am lucky in that I have a fair few friends who can help me.

However I am wondering if it's a smart idea to service it myself, for the following reasons:

1) No stamp in the book, even though I have no plans to sell it unless I land a great job.
2) Depreciation value.
3) How can I prove I did the work.
4) Service indicator says it doesn't need it.

Ideally I'd like to do a "big" service for much less than a garage would charge me to change the oil.

I'm talking: aux belt (not done as far as I can see), spark plugs (again), oil, transmission fluid, all filters, checking all suspension etc...

I can change all parts myself. It's a mini cooper - so the transmission fluid is a pin! However I am wondering whether it's smarter to just pay someone to do the basics as per schedule.

Personally I don't agree with "lifetime" transmission fluid or changing the oil ever 24k/2years. But will I be shooting myself in the foot by doing this myself?

[marshalla]

Personal opinion : if it isn't under warranty, you've very little to lose. Keep receipts for all the consumables you replace, keep them with the service book and note the mileage.

It's only going to become an issue if you need to sell the car soon.

[lookingforajob]

marshalla said:

Personal opinion : if it isn't under warranty, you've very little to lose. Keep receipts for all the consumables you replace, keep them with the service book and note the mileage.

It's only going to become an issue if you need to sell the car soon.

57 plate so no warranty. No plans to sell the car unless I get a great job and/or have kids. Thanks

[lbc]

Depends on the car.

If it was Ferrari, Porsche etc, I would not purchase without dealer history.

The average Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot is not going to make a lot of difference if receipts are available to view.

[lookingforajob]

lbc said:

Depends on the car.

If it was Ferrari, Porsche etc, I would not purchase without dealer history.

The average Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot is not going to make a lot of difference if receipts are available to view.

Mini Cooper - worth less than £5k. 57 plate with 60k on the clock.

[Stick Legs]

Do it.

Then money you would loose for not having FDSH will be more than repaid by the saving.
As another poster says keep the receipts.
Why not have a stamp made?
Pennies to do, just call yourself "Yew Tree Garage" or whatever.
Not dishonest providing the work is done well. After all I know a few self taught mechanics running genuine businesses so what difference?

[Stick Legs]

Stick Legs said:

Do it.

Then money you would loose for not having FDSH will be more than repaid by the saving.
As another poster says keep the receipts.
Why not have a stamp made?
Pennies to do, just call yourself "Yew Tree Garage" or whatever.
Not dishonest providing the work is done well. After all I know a few self taught mechanics running genuine businesses so what difference?

Let me clarify a point, making a Garage stamp with 'Westerly Mini' and a Mini logo would be dishonest.
Just stamping your own book for your own car & your own servicing is disingenuous maybe, but not dishonest.

[anonymous-user]

Do it.

I service mine myself because a. its cheaper and b. I know its been done properly.

I keep the receipts well organised with dates and mileage and I sign the service book myself.

[Sensibleboy]

It's not new anymore and it's at an age where you wouldn't expect main dealer stamps. DIY servicing has never affected values of my cars. Condition sells at this age not dealer stamps in a book. Just keep the parts receipts.

[triggerh4ppy]

Topbox said:

Do it.

I service mine myself because a. its cheaper and b. I know its been done properly.

I keep the receipts well organised with dates and mileage and I sign the service book myself.

This ^^

I did this with all my cars. Never had an issue when it came to selling.

[P-Jay]

Do it, keep the receipts for the consumables if you're concerned about re-sale.

[liner33]

I keep all my receipts and collate them together and give them a job number for each service , then I simply write the job number where the stamp would be and date and mileage, I also write the mileage on the collated receipts.

If I don't have the tools or equipment to do some of the work ie timing belts, air con regas, tyres, gearbox oil changes etc then I get a garage to do that work and add that receipt in with the stuff ive done

All the buyers even dealers are pretty happy to get such comprehensive history

[thatdude]

Personally, I would be happy bying a home-serviced vehicle providing it's done regularly (I want to see receipts with dates and miles written on them, as well as a correpsonding entry in the service book just because its easier to keep track of). I'll be asking more questions, mostly to find out what the person knows about vehicles to determine their competancy at twirling spanners. usully though people who service their own cars on a regular basis know what they are doing, and are more likely to have non-routine maintainence issues sorted quickly e.g. bushes etc.

All you can do come sale time is be honest - you serviced the car yourself because it's not really that difficult providing you take care, and you saved lots of money in doing so. No-one can argue with that, but if someone doesnt like it they cqan walk away and buy a dealer serviced vehicle.

I also agree about the service intervals (24,000 miles on an oil change...really?) and gearbox fluid should be changed (i did it in my civic...it turns out it was running low. gearchange action afterwards was noticably improved). I;ve been doing oil changes every 4 months (6000 miles) on my civic, half what honda quote. hasnt cost me much and I have a sweet running engine to boot

Edited by thatdude on Monday 7th July 10:39

[MysteryLemon]

If I was buying a newish car (under 5 years) then I would want to see dealer receipts and stamps as it should have been under warranty and no excuse not to go back to the dealer really.

Anything older and I would happily accept receipts for parts over service stamps. A well looked after car by a handy, enthusiastic owner means a lot more to me than someone who throws their car at Kwik Fit every time it fails the MOT. At least I know it's been looked after by someone with some (in theory) knowledge of the car.

Generally I do all the servicing on my own cars and always keep receipts for parts and write the milage and date I fit them. Anything major, I will generally get a garage to do due to lack of time and space to do it on my drive. In that case I keep the receipt. Don't think I've ever had the book stamped. No need. A stamp is meaningless and anyone can tick the box that says cambelt or whatever. Without a receipt to back it up, it means nothing.

[Mr SFJ]

I haven;t done it yet, but I plan too soon, as my spark plugs are hideously expensive and the oil filter is a pig to get too I plan on doing it myself as I would like to play about, learning about how to do things and build up my confidence in my car, bigger jobs like the belts I would have done properly but that'll be down to a lack of tools and space.

[Chicane-UK]

One option is to take it to a generic service place to do nothing more than an oil change so you get the 'stamp in the book' and then do the rest of the work yourself - belt changes, etc etc. You save a good amount of money, and get the stamp in the book that folks might be looking for if you sell it on.

[V88Dicky]

I do the servicing myself on my 8 year old Jag. It's actually very easy to work on, there's no under shield to remove to get to the sump / oil filter, I dropped in a re-usable air filter so no need to renew that every time. I recently replaced the front pads for the princely sum of £19.32. Very satisfying.

You know what? I actually enjoy servicing it myself. Got my own stamp made up too. It reads "Serviced Using Genuine Parts"

[andye30m3]

Depends on the car, only 2 cars I've not serviced myself where my CSL and GT3 due to the values.

I'd keep receipts for the history and write in the service book yourself, never had anyone care when coming to sell.

[g3org3y]

MysteryLemon said:

If I was buying a newish car (under 5 years) then I would want to see dealer receipts and stamps as it should have been under warranty and no excuse not to go back to the dealer really.

Anything older and I would happily accept receipts for parts over service stamps. A well looked after car by a handy, enthusiastic owner means a lot more to me than someone who throws their car at Kwik Fit every time it fails the MOT. At least I know it's been looked after by someone with some (in theory) knowledge of the car.

Generally I do all the servicing on my own cars and always keep receipts for parts and write the milage and date I fit them. Anything major, I will generally get a garage to do due to lack of time and space to do it on my drive. In that case I keep the receipt. Don't think I've ever had the book stamped. No need. A stamp is meaningless and anyone can tick the box that says cambelt or whatever. Without a receipt to back it up, it means nothing.

+1 on this. Do as much as possible but lack of expertise/confidence/tools means it still goes to the garage for the big jobs.

Quite a decent money saving plus good self satisfaction from doing the job yourself.

[garycat]

Many garages do offers where they do the MOT and service together. Assuming you need an MOT at some point you could get a basic service thrown in for just a bit more.