How often you should get your car serviced depends on how often you drive your car. As a rule to live by, you should have your car serviced every 12 months. If you drive your car many miles every day – even if these are motorway miles – your car will benefit from interim services every 6 months.

If you manage to cover 12,000 miles before the 12 months is up, you should then get your car serviced, too. This many miles is more than enough for your oil to become old and potentially sludgy, as well as your coolants to evaporate or become diluted.

What is done to my car during a service?

Here is the very minimum of maintenance tasks that should be completed when your car is serviced:

– Brakes checked/adjusted

– Battery checked/replaced

– Engine oil check/top up

– Lights check/bulbs replaced

– Seat belt check

– Steering check/adjusted

– Tyre tread & inflation check

A quality automotive centre will check over far more than this. In fact, if it is an electrical or mechanical part that is essential to the workings of the car, then it will be checked for safe operation. See our servicing checklist as an example of exemplary servicing standards.

How do I know when my car needs a service?

You can always check in the car’s manual to find out the servicing intervals for your particular make and model. However, in this modern age, of course there is a more high tech assistant in this area who can help you.

If your car was manufactured in the last 10-15 years, there is a high chance that your car’s computer management system knows how long it has been since your car was serviced. After the recommended service interval, a warning light will illuminate on your dashboard. It is typically a spanner symbol.

When your car goes in for a service, the mechanic there will be able to reset the service interval, so that the spanner symbol disappears from your dashboard. The spanner will only reappear once you have reached the end of the new service interval.

Facts about servicing

Regular servicing means that your car is safer to drive, is more reliable and will extend the life of your vehicle. Discovering and fixing faults before they become larger and more expensive problems will save you a boatload of cash in the long run.

You might already know this. What might be news to you is the fact that vehicles with full servicing history in place have a resale value that is 26% higher than the same vehicle with no maintenance records available.

Universal Tyres is the premier provider of car and van servicing throughout London, Essex and South East England. We have been repairing, servicing and testing vehicles for over 90 years and are proud to offer industry leading customer service. Enjoy FREE Wi-Fi and coffee at one of our many centres, and friendly, independent advice from our team of expert mechanics. We provide everything you need to keep you happily on the road for years to come. Contact us more details today.