Do you service your car yourself?

[Steeps]

Done:
Year 1 - dealer paid for due to warranty claim issue
Year 2 - dealer paid for due to warranty claim issue
Year 3 - 15% discount from list price
Year 4 - 15% discount from list price
Year 5 - 50% discount due to warranty claim issue

To do:
Year 6 - Service parts at same time as recall - pay for spark plugs only
Year 7 - dealer going to pay due to warranty claim issue
Year 8 - dealer going to pay due to warranty claim issue

Less than £80 a year to fully service my car instead of the £340/yr average it should have been. I do my own brake pads and inspections, all they are doing is all the fluids (oil/diff/brake) and filters (oil/fuel/cabin).

 

[crinkleshoes]

Edit... too much verbal diarrhoea

 

[crinkleshoes]

Long life oil is total BS.
12k plus service intervals is killing your engine.
6/8k is a happy balance.

Manufacturers are happy to recommend 12-18k mike intervals on many modern cars & offer warranties on that basis up to even 15 years / 140k miles with one marque I know of.

If there weren’t such long term warranties available based on those intervals, the inner cynic might be tempted to argue they are working to enhance their planned obsolescence business plan... but given they exist, it would be difficult to justify.

 

[Avalon]

It's all relative. If i'd just dropped 30K on a brand new toy, it'd likely see a dealer during warranty for a stamp in the book and anything identified at service time being dealt with under warranty with (hopefully) minimal drama. Driving a teenage RAV4 that's worth relatively little with 115k on the clock, the only time I see a dealer is for recalls.

This summer I need to replace rear diff seals (bleed valve will have likely gummed up causing pressure build up and fluid to pass the n/s seal, obviously do both), brake overhaul including pipes and fluid, discs ad pads, then the turbo variable vane system needs stripping/cleaning and that means a new fitting kit/pickup. One job I will likely outsource is an injector clean/rebuild, I lack a suitable ultrasonic cleaner or a suitable flow/spray test set-up. Other than that it's just the usual filters/fluids and consumables as per the schedule, these days it's more time (12m) than distance (10k) that I hit, even if it weren't i'd drop the interval to 8K for the minimal time/cost of parts.

 

[robj20]

Nope but I do buy all the parts and get my friend to MOT and fit said parts for £40.
Mine gets a major service now it's out of warranty every 12 months for £85 parts plus the £40 lot cheaper than the dealers £300+

 

[Thecaferacer]

I take it you are a top lawyer that charges £200+ an hour?

Otherwise I'd like to know where else you make minor service -£200+ and major service -£400+ In an hour or two?

I'm talking the going rate to service a new premium brand like Lexus/BMW

Or do you drive a Dacia and it's £40 for a service?

If you are talking pounds and pence.

A minor service isn't much more than £130-£150 at MOT time. If I was doing it myself I would still need to buy in the oil, plugs and filters which would easily be £50. So yeah my 2-3 hours of my work time easily covers a garage bill.

 

[Begbie]

Used to have a motor club at work, and paid transport in and out of work so I'd do it there. Tools and ramp were provided, plus I could do it in work time and get a lift home.

Now I just pay someone. But I live in Cyprus so it's both cheap and dodgy. Last MOT, "it should fail, but if you buy two tyres he'll pass it". The tyres weren't even that bad either.

 

[233]

I take it your fleet is manual gearbox ?
Autos are great but they need regular fluid and filter changes, and even then you can't discount the chance they will just one day go postal,
and give up the ghost on the motorway sounding like a tumble-drier full of spanners falling down stairs.

no all our rentals are manuals. although my personal taxi atm is DSG due to an injury. again as long as they are serviced correctly its not a major issue although i dont think i'd fancy my chances with a dsg box doing 1/2 million miles without issues.


biggest problem with autos is people believe the sealed for life tosh thats spouted by the manufacturers, treat them the same as a manual and change the fluid every 40-50k and they will last a lot longer.
pita job though and ideally you need something like this

 

[Tinders]

Im intrigued by long life oils, my dad rebuilds engines, and weve had plenty of cars over the years at 6-10 years old with knackered bottom ends, all bar a few had been serviced on the button, having seen the innards, the condition of the oil ways and general sludge wasnt a pretty sight.

 

[Avalon]

no all our rentals are manuals. although my personal taxi atm is DSG due to an injury. again as long as they are serviced correctly its not a major issue although i dont think i'd fancy my chances with a dsg box doing 1/2 million miles without issues.

biggest problem with autos is people believe the sealed for life tosh thats spouted by the manufacturers, treat them the same as a manual and change the fluid every 40-50k and they will last a lot longer.
pita job though and ideally you need something like this

My wife has had 4 DSG’s, the latest is on contract so not my problem (yay!), but it’s predecessor was still going strong at 170K. Servicing them isn’t a massive issue or a particularly long winded job, fluid isn’t exactly cheap, but it certainly doesn’t require more than basic tools/common sense (access to the VAS tool does make it easier though).

Either way a well maintained DSG shouldn’t cause any more issues than a manual, unless you are unlucky in which case it can often be cheaper/easier to swap in a used part. Having seen the bill for a friends old X5 auto box and the subsequent advice to have the replacement machined with a fill/drain plug or Merc/smart ommiting the fluid change as part of the schedule and feeling the difference when it’s done, sealed for life is madness.

 

[Vita]

I do most of work required on my car myself. Anything out of my depth I take to a mechanic.

 

[Jez]

No one uses 5w30 unless they want a dead k04 turbo.

I have a barrel of 5w40. Works out at approx £15 per 5.7L oil change...

I can do 4 changes and still be cheaper than ONE service at a garage. And I can guarantee my engine is better off

You keep a barrel of oil at your house? wow

 

[Usher]

I always serviced my own when I was younger but now I have a car under warranty and I paid for a 3 year service contract. However they cannot be trusted to do it properly as I found out.

My car is a hybrid, it requires thin viscosity fully synthetic 0W-20 oil, heavier grades affect the mpg quite a lot. After it's 1st service the mpg dropped about 8-10 mpg. I questioned what oil was used and they insisted it was 0W-20. Reading on Toyota owners forums i saw that others had the same problem. I ordered 5ltr of 0W-20, drained the oil and and did a simple viscosity test using a small container with a hole in the bottom, you simply time how long it takes the oil to run out and the result showed beyond doubt they had not used 0W-20.

I refilled the car and my mpg returned to how it should be. I told the garage my findings and they still insisted they used the correct oil. Needless to say I have cancelled the service contract along with any future new cars from that dealership.

 

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[inflames]

I usually do my own servicing on mine and my wife car's but this year i think i will give mine to my garage i use for the jobs i don't have the time for. Just far to busy at the moment.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

God no. I learnt as a teenager that me and anything oily don't mix at all. Did more damage than good honestly.

 

[Drollic]

I used to do the basics but now order in the parts and get a local trusted garage to carry out things at labour only cost. Motul fully synth oil and genuine filter for under £75.00 for instance doesn't seem too bad given you could take your car to a lot of places and get some cheap oil and still pay about the same. Dealer stamps don't bother me with the kind of cars I buy.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I had a new fiesta serviced at the dealer.
Oil was still dirty when it came back.
Either they used the syphon method, or didn't give it time to fully drain. Engine bay was dirty. Its just a rush job. Tech's are probably not given the time to do it properly.

Arnold Clark?

They don't actually change the oil fyi. Just top it up.

 

[Gaygle]

I do the servicing on my girlfriends car, because it's not worth anything.

Oil (Shell Ultra) and filter change costs about £25 in parts and about 30 minutes
Spark plugs are about £30
Brake fluid - an hour of time, £5 in fluid
Coolant - meh looks alright
Air filter - £10

 

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