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!