Suspect garage not actually done anything for MOT/Service

[Uriel]

Come on, hands up who 'actually' carries out a weekly manintance check on thier car? lol

Easy to preach, isn't it.

I intend to. It actually gets done on my car somewhere between weekly and monthly.

However I got a little slack and didn't check the missus' car (09 Chevrolet Aveo with about 50k) for a couple of months. It's technically her responsibility but she never actually does it. Last week it spat out some of its coolant via damage to a corroded radiator in motorway roadworks, engine light came on, overheated and probably done enough damage to not make it worth fixing. As she was in traffic management she kept driving it rather than stop. Can't be sure but maybe if "we'd" been carrying out checks we might have noticed a coolant level drop. We don't know if it happened gradually or if a bit of road debris might have cracked it just then.

If I'm honest - I probably wouldn't have realised the radiator might be a problem unless I saw the fluid level drop.

I'm fairly shocked, having told mates about it, by the number of people that have said things like "oh I never check under the bonnet between services". It seems like that's becoming 'normal'.

 

[Fr0dders]

Come on, hands up who 'actually' carries out a weekly manintance check on thier car? lol

Easy to preach, isn't it.

everybody on overclockers. Without fail. Anybody who doesn't is obviously a moron /sarcasm.

 

[Kuros]

I check my fluids once a week, tyres once a month until they get down to 3mm (I generally replace soon enough after this, so check weekly whilst I book it in).

It doesn't take long, I tend to do it on a Saturday morning before I drive out to the shops.

(Hyundai i10, so I don't actually need to do anything other than top of windscreen wash, but may as well check everything else while I'm there).

 

[iaind]

They teach you how to check oil as part of the driving lessons now dont they? There's really no excuse

 

[tom_e]

My sister thought you only had to service a car when you wanted to sell it

 

[div0]

Carrying out maintenance checks doesn't have to involve you putting on your car anorak and polishing everything under your bonnet on a Sunday afternoon. All you have to do is lift the bonnet every now and then, check the oil, check the coolant, check the brake fluid and just have a quick look at anything that may appear abnormal. It literally takes all of about 2 minutes maximum.

That's not exactly the same as 'weekly' though is it.

I'd suspect that if most people, even those of us with slightly higher horses, were being honest we could easily go a month or two without ever lifting the bonnet.

The only thing I do on a 'weekly' basis is fill up with fuel.

And I just have a look at my tyres every now and then if I walk past the car to look for uneven wear etc.

It's really not rocket science.

There's really no excuse to not just glance at your tyres though. All that requires is some awareness that it's a task worth doing.

 

[Uriel]

I think my car's manual recommends checking the oil as often as you refuel.

 

[[TW]Fox]

everybody on overclockers. Without fail. Anybody who doesn't is obviously a moron /sarcasm.

Checking weekly is extreme. Once a month is absolutely fine - perhaps even less frequently but going thousands of miles between checks is just silly. Especially on an older car which is likely to have variable rates of oil usage, develop leaks, etc.

Better than just driving around it without bothering to do anything at all - even take a nail out of a tyre - and then blaming the garage who serviced it months and thousands of miles ago when your oil pressure light comes on.

 

[johnny6]

Come on, hands up who 'actually' carries out a weekly manintance check on thier car? lol

Easy to preach, isn't it.

Isn't that what the warning lights/Annual MOT is for

 

["andy"]

cant believe that at first people where wanting him to name and shame a garage before even giving the real information

then we later found out that what actually happened was that in a year of driving , some tyres wore , a cv joint went , a car wash or some direct sun marked his headlights a bit more and some rust maybe spread to a structural area

as for your exhaust well they tend to rust from the inside out , if it didnt have any major leaks and passed the emissions test then its a pass. even if it looked rusty as hell and wasnt leaking its a pass

its surprisingly easy to pass an MOT. dont know why some people think they are an ultimate safety test.

 

[Amp34]

Wow, how many people actually think that the light is there to say the oil is low?

Some cars have electronic dipsticks but not many. The light means that there's no pressure, oil is no longer circulating around the engine. In a lot of cars, especially ones with turbos, if the light comes on then it's probably too late.

It's not a "hey, I could do with a topup" light, it's a "STOP! things are about to get melty and scratchy!!" lighg

Well yeah. Point with me was it was a month after the oil was changed. Usually I don't expect to have to check to see if they have done what they were supposed to.

Do you check the dipstick every week then? I check it every once in a while which is why I know the car doesn't burn through oil.

In reality I should have double checked as they royally screwed several other things up at the same time...

EDIT: Also, do you check the garage has refilled the car with the correct amount of oil after they have done an oil change?

 

[grudas]

I check my fluids once a month, but then again IMO it depends on the use, I do 5k miles a year if that.

 

[iaind]

I check mine when I wash it, which tends to be once every couple of weeks.

 

[Semple]

I check mine when I wash it, which tends to be once every couple of weeks.

Tends to be when i check mine. I'm doing a little over 2k miles a month and so far *touch wood* my levels haven't moved since i've had the car 2 months - apart from the washer fluid.