Ignoring Your Car Service Schedule Has a Price

Collaborative Post¦ Cars are one of the biggest expenses in our lives – not just the initial purchase, but they’re often the cause of unexpected bills due to mishaps like breakdowns. It should be obvious, but a lot of the problems we run into with our cars could be easily avoided if we looked after our cars a bit better, as opposed to just treating problems as and when they appear.

A lot of motorists treat their MOT as their annual health check for their car and while it’s true your car won’t be allowed on the road if it fails, the MOT checklist is essentially the bare legal standard your car must meet. It’s nowhere near as comprehensive as a minor or major service checklist.

For an easy analogy – imagine you never exercised, washed or ate fruit and vegetables; sooner or later you’d start to feel worse for wear and health problems would start cropping up. The exact same principle can be applied to your car. So while it might feel like you’re paying out for no return at the time, there’s a load of benefits to regularly servicing your car:

Warranty: If you’re buying a new or even relatively new car, following the manufacturer service schedule keeps your car under warranty. Some warranties last as long as seven years so even if you’ve bought a slightly older second hand car, provided it had a full service history it would still be under the manufacturer warranty in some circumstances.

Safety: Servicing not only keeps everything functional, but comprehensively checks your car for any problems or soon to be problems. Common accident causes like balding tyres or worn brakes will be flagged during services, helping make your car safer for you and your family.

Value: If you plan on selling your car on at any point, having a full service history will help retain the value of your car, meaning you’ll get more for it when you sell it on.

Cost: Prevention is the best cure is very pertinent to cars. For example, changing your cam belt in line with your service intervals may be slightly costly, but leaving your cam belt to wear and ultimately snap will likely break other engine components – leaving you with an even heftier repair bill.

Longevity: Cars generally last longer if they’re given a little TLC. A well maintained car will keep running for much longer than a poorly maintained car.

Reduce Pollution: Cars are a massive contributor to air pollution in the UK and the government have been cracking down on this issue with more stringent emissions tests for new cars and for the MOT. Your car is far less likely to fail its MOT due to emissions if it’s been serviced regularly. You’ll also be doing your bit to reduce air pollution from transport.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.

Header image credit Yuksel Goz: https://unsplash.com/photos/rvot67d2Yyc

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