It’s recommended that you should have your car serviced for every 12’000 miles it’s driven, or annually, whichever comes first, and whilst this might seem like a lot, it’s not something that should be skipped.

Whilst not a legal requirement (though a yearly MOT for cars over three years old is), regular car servicing is essential to ensure your safety and your car’s optimal performance.

You may feel resentful at having to have your car serviced. After all, you only go to a doctor when you are ill, so why would you have a check-up when you are perfectly healthy or even suffering from a minor condition that will soon resolve itself? 

Three reasons, actually; firstly, some insurance policies or jobs require you to have regular check-ups to make sure that you are still healthy. 

Secondly, to be screened for the early onset of conditions that can be cured or well-managed as long as they are caught in good time – often before they become symptomatic in any way. 

But the main reason for ensuring that you have timely and regular services is that your car cannot heal itself – any problems will almost certainly get worse and more expensive. 

Sure, this is all conceptual, hypothetical stuff,  but if you need more convincing, let’s drill down into the finer details. Here’s why you should never skip car servicing.

Air & Oil Filters

Your car’s air and oil filters, between them, make sure that your engine works efficiently and smoothly. When the air filter becomes dirty or clogged, the air flow to the engine reduces making the engine work harder to power your car, using more fuel and possibly even leading to overheating. 

Read: How to save money on fuel in 2022

As the guys at Southwest Performance Parts elaborate, the oil filter strains out particulates and ensures that the oil circulating around the engine is free from debris – but when it gets too full of debris, it can become less efficient, allowing some particles to enter the engine where it can abrade and damage delicate engine parts. These filters are changed as standard on every service, which means that your car will run more efficiently and remain in better condition, too.

Tyre Rotation

Your tyres are a vital part of your vehicle, and it can be easy to neglect them when they are seemingly working well and running fine. But your tyres and wheels are carefully engineered to work well under optimal conditions – and these conditions can be affected by rough roads, bumps and even careless driving. 

As part of your service, the wheels and tyres will be checked for signs of damage, the tread depth will be checked for legality, and you can even have your wheels balanced and the tyres rotated and/ or aligned at the same time. Keeping your tyres healthy is absolutely vital for your continued safety when driving, and should be neglected as part of a more comprehensive car servicing.

Wheel balancing means having the weight of the car spread evenly over all four wheels, alignment means having the tyres placed at precise right angles on the axles, so they all pull forward in exactly the same direction.

Rotation refers to the practice of switching the front tyres to the back and swapping left and right tyres at the same time – this encourages the tyres to wear evenly, as the front and outside edges of the tyres suffer more wear than the back and inside edges. Both are, simply put, essential safety features for your vehicle.

The experts seem to agree. The car servicing team at Broadway Autocentres in Beaconsfield suggest that ‘’ensuring your tyres are in great nick are almost reason enough for regular servicing without other reasons’’. 

We couldn’t agree more.

You Will Save Money

Forgive our resoluteness here, but having your vehicle serviced according to the manufacturer’s guidelines will save you money in the long run. A properly serviced car uses less fuel and oil, and runs more efficiently than a poorly serviced vehicle. 

You will also be able to ask for a higher price when selling on your car as having the log book filled in by mechanics qualified to work on that make or model is seen as a positive sign and proof that you were a careful and responsible owner and driver.

And for that, we commend you!

A new report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that around 7.8 million people are struggling to pay bills – an increase of around 2.5 million people since 2020 – as inflation rises.

In tandem, 4.2 million people missed their bills or loan payments in the past six months, while a separate study from Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that 1-in-7 Brits are currently skipping meals due to the cost-of-living crisis.

It’s undeniable that households are coming under relentless pressure with the sharpest annual rise in food prices for over 40 years contributing to the fact that many are simply unable to keep up with monthly bills.

With this in mind, Mat Megens, personal finance expert and CEO/Founder of HyperJar, the nation’s most-awarded money-saving app shares his top budgeting tricks and tips that in order to make the budgeting process that much easier.

The 50-30-20 Rule

If you want to get a handle on your spending and budget effectively, you need to know where your money is going. The 50-30-20 method splits your money into different categories – 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings. However, it still provides flexibility given that everyone has different financial obligations and goals. You can adjust the rule in line with your needs, but it’s a good place to start. The guidelines are:

• Allocate 50% for needs, including all essential payments each month (I.e. housing, transport, food, education, childcare, bills)
• Allocate 30% for wants, including non-essential spending (treats, gifts, restaurant, fast food, social events)
• Allocate 20% for savings and debt repayment (emergency fund, savings goals, credit cards)

Take on a Money-Saving Challenge

Sometimes, healthy competition can be a great method of motivating yourself – especially if you do it with a friend or family member. Try to do the 52-week challenge, where you save one pound the first week, two pounds the second, three pounds the third, etc. – after a year, you end up with ­£1,378. Alternatively, you can also try the pound-a-day challenge, or create your own game.

It’s also easier to do something when you have someone else to do it with. Getting yourself an accountability partner – or a money buddy – to match savings with you can act as a really effective way to save money. For example, HyperJar lets you share ‘Jars’ with others so you can put money aside, hold each other accountable, and track your progress together.

Read: 8 ways to save money on hot water

Visualise Your Spending and Budgeting

One of the most common mistakes people make when budgeting is that although they set a budget, they may not necessarily track their spending. This means that it could be harder to stick to your limits. Through money-saving apps such as HyperJar, you can get a visual representation of how you’re spending your money through a complete breakdown of your purchases according to category, merchant and savings so you’ll always be on top of everything. 

Budgeting templates can also help organise and track your income and spending in a clear and concise manner. When you understand your finances, you can then develop a plan for what you’re saving towards. It can also help eliminate the stress and anxiety of not understanding your spending and encourage you to be more on top of everything.

Save Now, Buy Later

The exponential rise of Buy Now, Pay Later schemes has made it increasingly easy to over commit expenditure and get trapped in a downward cycle – especially given that platforms such as Deliveroo now offer Klarna as a payment option.

Earlier this year The Guardian reported that “almost a third of shoppers who use buy now, pay later credit say repayments on the loans have become “unmanageable”, with the cost of living crisis pushing them into a debt spiral”.

In their app, HyperJar transform the notion of BNPL to Save Now, Buy Later. Through this, users are able to save for something over time and then purchase the item when you can afford it, compared to the instant gratification you get from careless spending.

HyperJar incentivises people to do this as by partnering with some of the biggest brands in the UK to offer people an annual growth rate on their money if they commit future spend to a specific retailer. At 4.8%, this is much higher than the interest offered by regular banks and is a great way of increasing spending power whilst nurturing a positive habit. It’s essentially the opposite of using a credit card because in the long run, you end up paying less.