Knowing if your car needs it mechanical service or not is not something everyone knows. Getting your car serviced for some can seem like a bit of a chore or inconvenience. The inconvenience of having your car off the road or a water pump and timing belt failure can be costly and mostly preventable. Burnside Motors has a few top tips to assist in the decision of if the time is right to service or not to service your car.
Keep it simple, look up
The easiest wat to see if your service is due is to look up. A basic service sticker will give you two indicators of when your service is due. Burnside Motors service stickers indicate a month and a km schedule. To tell if your service is due to check your calendar or odometer whatever one comes first is when your next service is due. Here is why this is important:
Km service
For most of us the km often appear prior to the actual service due date due to our busy day to day lifestyle. Manufacture services seem to be pushing services further and further with the introduction of cheap cap price servicing. There are now intervals of 15th and 20th km. The reality of this is oil begins to break down after 7 thousand km by the time you get to 15th or 20th km your engine is well in need of an oil change. A lot of vehicles that are serviced at Burnside Motors are often trade work or family vehicles. A vehicle that is your main source of transport securing your income, being without this or without having this vehicle at peak performance can create dramas in your work environment. Wearing parts such as brakes, suspension, belts, fuel filters need to be checked and kept an eye on so you are not breaking down mid-job.
Time Service
The other option for your service is time. If you have not met your km as you may only drive your car to and from the shops once a week you still need to service your vehicle approximately every six months. Burnside Motors service a lot of generation families of Nambour. We see from new families, their patients on both sides and grandparents come through our door. A lot of grandparents may drive to Coles and back once a week or fortnight and we will often see them skip their service for up to two years until they reach their km. The issue with this is sitting still can do a vehicle as much damage as driving it. Tyres go hard, a nice warm environment is a great place for vermin to live and damage the vehicle. Fuels can go stale and parts start to deteriorate. Burnside Motors often see more damage done to non serviced vehicles meaning every few years we see the car there is more expensive then what there would be if the car was serviced on a more regular basis.
Hear, See, Smell and Feel
Here at Burnside Motors we find and easy way to explain things that go wrong with a car in a similar way to things that go wrong with our bodies as humans. We are a little like vehicle doctors, there are just a lot more makes and models then there are men and woman. Often people know there car has been serviced because it drives better, feels better and looks better. Just like us before a detox or a health kick our cars start to feel run down, you may feel a vibration, smell fuel or a hot smell coming from the engine. People often hear brakes start to squeal, or not stop like they use to. Notice you are using more fuel than you normally do or that the car is hard to start on a cold morning. These are all indicators that your car is due for a service.
How much is all this going to cost and what do you need to do?
Burnside Motors long term customers do not often run into surprises with their services. Burnside clients who keep to their regular service schedule receive updates on upcoming services on their invoices. When reading your invoice we list all of the parts used, our service schedule as well as things we need to monitor, replace or have replaced now.
If you are unsure of where your service is up to the best thing to do is match your odometer up to your km in your service book. Most people keep their service book in the glove box of their vehicle. This will give you an idea of the price of your next service. If it is just an updated service or a general you will just need oil and filter. This is what we call a regular service. As long as you have not hit any pot holes or caused damage to your vehicle, have kept things up to date and not injured a freak accident this service book is a great indicator. The mechanical technicians at Burnside Motors will look forward in your service book and note any upcoming service items. This includes timing belts, spark plugs etc. The team also provide an estimate for follow up work to be done so you are able to budget for future work that needs to be carried out.
When looking for this information we locate this on the bottom of your invoice.
If you are not sure where your service is up to or if your service is due. Maybe you would like an updated idea on how much a service is or you think maybe your fuel filter will need changing this service. Burnside Motors team are always happy to assist you. Give us a call or pop in and see the team. We keep strong histories of every vehicle on our system. The history on our system backdated for the last 19 years, so if you have been our client in that time we will have your history.
Whenever in doubt or unsure our team is here to help and support you to stay safe and confidant in your vehicle.