Most People Have No Idea When They Last Had Their Car Serviced

How often do you get your car serviced? The majority of people likely can’t think of the answer to that question off the top of their heads. Instead, you may be thinking back to the last time you went on a road trip, as you may have had your car serviced before the journey.

If you ask anyone who is currently in the market to purchase a car what they are looking for in a vehicle, they are likely to say ‘reliability’. New research, however, has found that around a quarter of people haven’t taken their car in for servicing in more than a year. How can you expect your vehicle to be reliable if you don’t even put in the work to keep it maintained?

Usually, a vehicle service will include an engine oil and filter change. This needs to be done on time if you want your car to keep running smoothly and remain reliable. When the oil is not changed and instead just topped up, the older oil ages and degrades over time. It starts to oxidise and can become thick like tar. When this starts to occur, you run the risk of engine failure, even if you regularly put oil in your car.

Yearly servicing is a must for car-owners if they want their cars to keep running efficiently and working as they should. Servicing is a crucial part of vehicle maintenance that can prevent potential issues with your vehicle. If you choose to skip regular servicing, you will be at risk of causing more significant problems with your car later on. This can mean paying for costly repairs which could have been avoided.

Another reason to make sure you regularly get a service done on your car is that this can be a way to spot the early warning signs of potential issues. Your technician may spot a faulty engine, any problems with the cambelt, or anything else that may be going wrong with your car. How often do you stop to take a look under the hood? Even just the act of someone changing the oil can mean that they detect the signs that something is going to go wrong in the car. If you want reassurance that your vehicle is safe to drive, get it serviced.

So, why is it that people put off their vehicle servicing for so long? Apparently, around 50% of people are intimidated by vehicle maintenance. What they don’t realise is that if you simply drive your car over to a garage that specialises in vehicle servicing, they can do it all for you with no hassle. Around one-third of people said that it was a lack of knowledge that prevented them from servicing their car. However, you don’t actually need to know how to service your own car, just where to take it.

But that’s not all the survey found. The same study discovered that one in three drivers drive when the check engine light is on. Most people will keep driving the car for nine days once the warning light has turned on before they take it in for a service.

It’s time for us to do better. Keep yourself safe by taking in your car to a Hamilton car service garage. If you’re not based in Hamilton, there are also plenty of options for car servicing in Auckland as well as across the rest of the country. So, if you don’t know when you last had your car serviced, take it in today. It could save you from danger on the road.