Car Servicing?

[Vini]

Best place to get your car serviced is: .....

[McMav]

a garage thats been recommended to you

[herulach]

depends what/how old it is too, some manufacturers wont honour the warranty if you dont use authorised places.

[Vini]

Ford Ka, 18 months old. First Service.

Dont care about the '3 year' warranty. Pretty sure its 'void' anyway.

[5lab]

why'd it be void?

ford garages aint too bad (as dealerships go : the local ford garage has half the labour rate of the local volvo garage) but the best place would probably be an independant specialists - they should know of any updates/replacements the car needs.. otherwise find a small local garage that's been reccomended to you. My mondie just got a full 60,000 mile service, plus all belts, plus a bit of work to the aircon done for a whopping £270 - and this is brighton (ie normally v expensive)..

[Funkstar]

getting your car services at a garage other than the main dealer *will not* void your warranty. I read something about this in Auto Express a few months back. Apparently people are spending far more on simple servicing than they need to.

I however do get my Golf services at the local VW dealer because they have always been good with me. Also when you are trading in a car alots of places like to see the dealer service history.

[Barakka]

getting your car services at a garage other than the main dealer *will not* void your warranty. I read something about this in Auto Express a few months back. Apparently people are spending far more on simple servicing than they need to.

This is true, but it must be serviced using only original manufacturers parts; i.e. a Fiat service must use a Fiat air filter and Selenia oil etc. and then the garage can stamp the book to say they can prove they used original parts. Still a damn sight cheaper than going to the dealership though.

[KowShak]

Best place to get your car serviced is: .....

At home, do it yourself.

Its like asking where the best place to get your computer serviced is, or are you a CAR NOOB!

[johnny02004976]

took mine (focus) to local ford garage

[Vini]

At home, do it yourself.

Its like asking where the best place to get your computer serviced is, or are you a CAR NOOB!

i am a CAR NOOB.

[Kitty]

my car is a ford fiesta 1.4 iv not had it done for 2 years cus no one told me i needed to have one done (im a girl i no nowt bout cars lol) i met my new guy and he drove my car and said 'omg when did you have this serviced' because of the way it drove and stuff like that i said never in my 2 years of owning it he laughed and the next weekend he and his mate did one for me at home.. cheap and cheerful so do it yourself or get you bf to do it (for me anyway lol)

[magicrichard]

do it yourself! That way you know it's been done properly! Get yourself a Haynes (or equivalent) manual for your car, a decent socket set and spend some time working out what goes where. You'll save yourself a fortune.

I guess the caveat on that, would be specialist checks such as tracking and emissions - which are extremely hard (and pricey) to do yourself. They are however extremely quick and easy for a garage to do - you may even find places that would check your tracking for free.

[doll]

This is true, but it must be serviced using only original manufacturers parts; i.e. a Fiat service must use a Fiat air filter and Selenia oil etc. and then the garage can stamp the book to say they can prove they used original parts. Still a damn sight cheaper than going to the dealership though.

Not true either.

Any VAT registered garage can service your car within the warranty period and they can use aftermarket parts providing they are of original equipment quality. For instance, a manufacturer cannot void your warranty for fitting a correctly listed Fram oil filter and Castrol oil (providing it is the specification listed in your handbook of course).

[Zak33]

Not true either.

Any VAT registered garage can service your car within the warranty period and they can use aftermarket parts providing they are of original equipment quality. For instance, a manufacturer cannot void your warranty for fitting a correctly listed Fram oil filter and Castrol oil (providing it is the specification listed in your handbook of course).

true....but ironicaly it's not worth risking...so make them buy the factory parts and keep the invoice

or buy them yaself and take them with you. I think everyone should buy their own parts and take them with them.....the money you save by not allowing someone to make mark upon part sis quite superb...

Ferrari oil for example.....drug crazed money

But for ya normal cars such as this chaps Ka....keep it as Ford parts....for pure ease of proof

Besides....factory parts are often waaaay cheaper than you might guess

And while I used to like Fram....I dont trust them anymore. You just can't tell what the core od the filer is made of. They have gone too cheap.

On oil filters....but factory or you might siffer inner metal mesh crumpling and then back pressure from the oil pump

[Butuz]

Service them myself as i never buy new cars anyway, no warranty to worry about

Butuz