Servicing5 min read
How often should you service your car?
Whichever comes first, the months or the miles. A straight answer on intervals, what each service actually includes, and why a low-mileage car still needs doing.
By Kaine Carter
The single most common servicing mistake is treating the mileage as the only trigger. Oil breaks down whether you drive the car hard or leave it on the drive, and a low-mileage car running three-year-old oil is doing itself more harm than a high-mileage one serviced properly.
Minor service: every 6 months or 6,000 miles
This is what you do between full services rather than instead of one. Oil and oil filter replaced, a 16 point check across the vehicle, a written tyre report and the service indicator reset.
It suits high-mileage drivers who want the oil changed twice a year without paying for a full service each time.
Major service: every 12 months or 12,000 miles
The full annual service. Every filter that should be changed gets changed — oil, air, pollen, and fuel where fitted — spark plugs are replaced on petrol engines, and all fluids are topped up.
The part people undervalue is the 40 point safety check with the wheels off. Brakes cannot be judged properly through a wheel, and taking them off is how a seized caliper or a worn disc gets caught before it becomes an expensive noise.
Why does the price vary between cars?
Mostly oil. Some engines take four litres of ordinary oil; others take nine litres of a long-life specification costing several times as much. Filters and plugs vary too. That is why we quote from the registration rather than advertising a single figure that turns out not to apply to you.
Will servicing independently void my warranty?
No. Block exemption rules mean a car can be serviced anywhere, provided the work follows the manufacturer's schedule and the correct parts and oil are used. We do exactly that and stamp the book, so the history stays intact for whenever you sell.
The one that is not on a menu
Cam belts are set by age as well as mileage, and the two often disagree — a low-mileage car can be years overdue. A belt is cheap to replace and catastrophic to ignore, because failure usually takes the engine with it. If you cannot prove yours has been done, treat it as due.
Send us the registration and we will tell you the interval for your exact engine, and whether it has a belt at all — plenty use a chain, which does not need replacing on a schedule.
