16

For years I have been driving a very old car, and servicing it every 10,000 kilometres even though it took me almost a year to drive that much.

Now I have a newer car which I care about more. It's going to be doing very little kilometres -- mainly driving to/from the train station, with some driving on the weekend. I predict it will probably take me about 18 months to drive 10,000 kilometres.

Most advice I have read is that you should service your car every 10,000 kilometres OR 6 months, whichever is sooner. If I follow this advice, I will be servicing the car after only a small number of kilometres.

Given my circumstances, should I be following this advice?

LeopardSkinPillBoxHat
  • 417
  • 2
  • 5
  • 11

1 Answers1

8

The simple answer is yes - you should.

A car doing reasonable mileage may actually last longer than a car doing very low mileage, as when a car is less frequently used oils may fully drain so the next time the car is started it runs without lubrication in some areas for a short while - increasing wear. As @SamJones mentioned - checking your oil level on a weekly basis should be standard practice.

Also oils and rubber do deteriorate over time, so things like belts, wiper blades, tyre pressure etc should be checked.

I would also recommend scheduling these so that one is just before winter, as this is a good time to get pre-winter checks carried out.

Rory Alsop
  • 18,600
  • 7
  • 60
  • 100