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Beware of service intervals. As most people know service intervals have been extending and it’s not uncommon for cars to have 18,000 or 20,000 mile service intervals. If you are a low mileage user this could suggest that if you had a car for 3 years, covering around 6,000 or less miles per annum, you wouldn’t have to carry out a single service to retain the car’s warranty. But this is unlikely to be the case as most Read more »

Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions have warned drivers to ensure that they don’t risk their lives and the lives of others by missing services on cars. In a study carried out by Ford it was shown that 15% of Britons miss out a service in order to save money during this recession whilst 18% don’t have breakdown cover. The biggest culprits are the 18-24 age group who miss services with over a third not having a breakdown Read more »

Motor Codes, the body responsible for producing a National code of practice for servicing and repairs, have called for a single computer database containing every vehicle’s service record to be created to prevent crooks faking car service histories in order to inflate the car’s value. The call was made after it was found that it was possible to guy fake service books and ink stamps online on eBay. Auto Express Read more »

It would seem that some of the carbon friendly effects of the recession are better management of family vehicles and in many cases a reduction in the number of vehicles being driven by the family. Added to which many employees are opting for cash for cars in place of the old company car scheme, effectively seen as increasing their income, as they now use the family car which they had anyway and was Read more »

I recently warned about the dangers of not having your car serviced on time from the point of view of safety. We have now had further warnings from manufacturers and leasing companies about the importance of having your car serviced on time. The manufacturers are referring to the potential loss of warranty cover if the car is not serviced ‘as per manufacturers’ recommendations’. The chances of an engine Read more »

Motoring organisations have warned motorists not to look to save motoring costs, in these difficult times, by not having their car serviced on time. Certainly shop around to get the best deal and don’t forget under the European rulings you no longer need to have cars serviced at main dealers to retain the warranty cover so you can use garages and fast fit service centres, charging much lower hourly rates than Read more »

According to figures released by Warranty Direct, labour rates for mechanics have risen by 11.3% since the summer of 2006 to an average £75.17 per hour. Rates have increased sharpest by the independent garages to narrow the gap between them and the more expensive franchised dealer networks. The average franchised dealer is charging £95 an hour today compared with £88 in 2006, up 7.7%. In comparison Read more »