Top 10 Reasons to Service Your Car

The first reason you need to make sure your car gets its annual health check is for the safety of you, your family and other road users. Plenty of things can go wrong with a car and some of them can have drastic consequences. Faulty steering, poorly aligned wheels, weak brake lines - these can all lead to accidents on the road which, as we all know, can sometimes be fatal. Do yourself and everyone around you a favour by ensuring your car is running safely.

Money talks and, with the previously owned car sales rocketing in 2021, a well-maintained service booklet could well pay dividends at point of sale. There comes a time in our vehicle ownership cycle when we have to move on. If you’re selling your car privately or to a dealer, there is no doubt whatsoever that a regularly serviced vehicle will fetch more money than a similar vehicle with a less-complete history, it’s as simple as that. The dealer knows they will have fewer problems selling the car if it is backed by a service history and they can be confident that the car is less likely to have underlying problems, they can, therefore, offer you more money for it.

We all like to get the best performance out of our cars and if you’ve got a clogged up air filter, dirty lubricant and air-bubbles in your brake lines, then you’re not getting nearly the best your car can offer. A service will clear all these imperfections and get your car performing the way the manufacturer intended. Don’t compromise your car by skipping the annual service.

Similar to the previous point, a car with a clogged up air filter or a tricky DPF filter isn’t going to be nearly as good on fuel as a car which can breathe properly. Similarly, clean oil is a considerably better lubricant for your engine than oil that’s been going around your car for years and years. A service cleans all this up and will help you achieve more pleasing running costs.

We’ve all seen it on the roads before when a clapped out old motor storms past leaving a cloud of noxious emissions as it accelerates away. Nobody wants to be that person, and nobody on the road wants to be breathing those exhaust fumes in. Having your car serviced frequently keeps your emissions (and your carbon footprint) as low as possible.

Whether you buy new or used, the chances are that you’re going to be holding on to your car for a number of years and countless miles. Going forward, to get the most out of the engine and components that you are paying for you’re going to want to look after them. Cars rarely see over 100,000 miles if they haven’t been properly looked after, whereas other cars with the proper maintenance can often live on for twice that amount of mileage.

Lots of manufacturers want you to take your car back to their dealerships for a check-up, and they can afford to offer great discounts when doing so. For example, Audi can offer main dealer service plans from just £20 a month, Mercedes offer a similar plan from £29 a month, and Land Rover offer servicing plans for older vehicles too. Spreading the costs of servicing over monthly instalments can really take the sting out of the annual service and it will also help make sure you stick to the servicing schedule. Something to consider?

A dirty engine can cause a huge range of mechanical issues which can be expensive and inconvenient further down the line. Do yourself a favour and give your car the best healthcare you can afford otherwise you could find yourself sat waiting for a breakdown truck on the hard shoulder because of a malfunction that could have easily been prevented.

Think of it, if you were a buyer and you were looking at 2 near-identical cars, only one had a highly comprehensive service history with the correct stamps and one didn’t - which would you feel more comfortable buying? Exactly. A vehicles service history tells a lot about the car but even more so about the owner and how they treated the car.

Getting your car regularly checked with small tweaks taken as needed is much more cost-effective than having major problems fixed. Regular checks will help with fuel costs too. Faulty parts and flat or worn tyres, for example, will all increase fuel consumption and therefore see you returning to the petrol station more often!