Why sticking to your car's service schedule matters
- Service your car at the specified time or kilometre interval – whichever comes first
- Driving too many kilometres, or waiting too long between check-ups can compromise your car’s safety and reliability
- Ask for a quote first to avoid ‘surprise costs’ at service time
What is a service interval?
Your car’s service intervals are usually six, nine or 12 months apart, and are based on how often the manufacturer believes certain fluids or components need to be assessed and/or replaced. In modern vehicles, the car’s computer can alert you to a service being required, with some even contacting your dealership to let them know it’s due.
Each time interval has a corresponding kilometre interval, typically from 5000 to 15,000km. How often you service your car should be based on whichever of these intervals comes up first. Servicing should not be overlooked if you want to ensure the safety and reliability of your car, and to ensure you don’t inadvertently void a new car’s warranty.
What is logbook servicing?
Logbook servicing refers to a manufacturer’s regimented assessment of a vehicle based on when it believes certain parts will have reached their end of life.
While not every service your car undergoes will require extensive mechanical work, some services – often referred to as ‘major services – will be required.
The logbook helps owners and mechanics know what upcoming work will be required based on the life and mileage of a car.
Does every car have the same service interval?
How a car is driven is often more important than an odometer reading. Fewer kilometres travelled does not necessarily mean less wear, so it’s important to respect both time and distance.
Many components in a car reach high temperatures during normal operation, and after many of these ‘heat cycles’, they can begin to deteriorate. This means a vehicle that travels fewer kilometres than another, but does so with many more shorter trips, may have some components wear more significantly despite a lower odometer reading.
Where and how a car is driven is also important. Steering and suspension components, for example, are put under more stress in cars that make a lot of hard turns and must deal with imperfect road surfaces than ones that don’t. Brake pads will also be used up sooner if a vehicle does a lot of start-stop driving compared to one that does most of its distance on the freeway.
Respecting the manufacturer’s prescribed service intervals can help ensure your car remains in tip-top condition for many more kilometres to come.
