Minimising Car Servicing Costs What You Should Know

1. Minimising Car Servicing Costs: What You Should Know? Owning a car also comes with a responsibility--getting it serviced periodically. It often poses as an unpleasant affair, entailing money outgo. But, you need to periodically service your car as that is important to keep your car in good condition. If you fail to take your car to the service station periodically, your car might get significantly damaged, which will entail a substantial expenditure. As a result, you will end up spending more money. There is also a piece of good news for car owners in Australia. The automotive industry has recently introduced capped price and menu-based servicing that puts a top bar on how much each service can cost. Moreover, it also breaks down the individual cost components of car servicing, allowing you to know what you need to pay for your car servicing. How Does it Help? The benefit of the pricing system is that it allows you to compare car service costs across different car categories. As such, you can research various service costs to figure out how much you will pay for servicing your car. What are Car Service Cost Components? Typically, three significant factors make up the car servicing cost: the service's complexity, the kilometres your car has travelled, and much the mechanic want to charge. So, there cannot be such thing as 'average' car repair costs. When you purchase a new car, it usually needs a minor check-up after 30 days. Subsequently, a minor service follows after six or twelve months or a certain number of kilometres. After that, a major car service follows at the recommended intervals. And, the cost of a major service is always higher than a minor service. Many variables come into the picture while determining the car service costs. Some of them are petrol or diesel, front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, price capped or not.

2. However, the most significant variable is your car's service intervals. While some cars require servicing every six months, some need after every 12 months. And, that difference can make to your car servicing cost budget. Moreover, the car servicing schedule varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Dealership or a Private Mechanic: Which One to Go for? If the car salesperson told you that servicing your car outside the manufacturer's dealer network will make your warranty void, do not believe it, as that is not correct. On the contrary, servicing your car with a private mechanic can lower the cost of your car servicing apart from being more personable than servicing through a dealership. But, there are a few downsides to servicing your car with a private mechanic. During the first year of your purchase, most manufacturers subsidise their capped-price servicing plans. As a result, your car servicing can become as cheap as that with a private mechanic. Moreover, private mechanics cannot carry out the warranty work if your car is under warranty, during which the manufacturer pays for both the parts and the labour. Therefore, you have to take your car to a dealership if your mechanic identifies an issue. Therefore, you should not fail to make a car maintenance cost comparison beforehand. Conclusion As you cannot escape spending money on car servicing, you must assess various factors to bring down the cost.