At your service
With new car sales plummeting, and drivers holding on to their cars for longer, the need for good maintenance, at a reasonable cost, has become increasingly important, writes John Cradden
Maintaining form: Former 'Eastenders' actress Tamzin Outhwaite trying her hand at car maintenance in London. Motorists in Ireland are rediscovering the value of keeping their cars in good nick
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THE forgotten art of car maintenance, whether you do it yourself or get someone else to, appears to be enjoying a revival.
The huge rise in sales of new cars during the boom meant that, for those who changed cars regularly, the job of keeping them properly maintained was easier as they would have come with long-term warranties and free or low-cost dealer servicing packages.
Now, with new car sales down two-thirds in January over the same month last year, more motorists are opting to keep their car for longer, rather than upgrade to a new model.
This means more servicing business for dealers and independent garages, but also the re-emergence of the DIY motorist.
Popular online parts retailer Micksgarage.ie reports a near 50pc rise in sales of Haynes DIY car manuals in January compared to the same month last year.
"This is a definite indication that motorists are going to be taking a more hands-on approach to their cars this year," says marketing director Mark Leech.
The retailer also reports a 41pc increase in people searching online for car parts on its website in January 2009 compared to the same time last year.
It's not difficult to see why DIY servicing and maintenance might be growing in popularity. Aside from saving money, doing it yourself can help you avoid the hassle of having to ask your local garage to carry out simple repairs, such as replacing a bulb, checking fluid levels or tyres, or even changing the oil, oil filter and air filters.
There are lots of evening courses in car maintenance on offer at local community schools and colleges. However, if the idea of getting your hands dirty doesn't appeal, there are other ways to keep the costs of car maintenance down without having to neglect your car, or skip servicing schedules once the warranty or free or low-cost servicing packages expire.
Independent garages can usually service cars for a lot cheaper than main dealers. Furthermore, customer satisfaction for servicing work can be higher with independent garages than with main dealers.
According to a survey by independent garage review website, Bestgarages.ie, nearly 50pc of the 400 users surveyed rated independent garages as "excellent" for overall satisfaction, while only 20pc were equally happy with the service from a dealer, particularly in terms of value for money.
Eddie Ryan, sales and marketing director of Advance Pitstop, says his firm has seen a 10pc increase in its servicing business on a like-for-like basis in the past year. He says the extra trade in servicing has come from two quarters.
"There's people that have always had a new car that will now drive their new car for a lot longer, therefore they are really running into things like changing tyres for the first time ever, or needing a service for the first time.
"Then you have people who would have had second-hand cars and would have changed them on a somewhat frequent basis, not every year, but maybe every couple of years."
Now, they are choosing to hang on to these cars because today's cars are better built and can last longer, he says.
However, some motorists believe that if they start bringing the car to an independent garage for servicing, this might undermine the value of a fully stamped dealer service history when the time comes to sell.
Cyril Byrne, who runs bestgarages.ie, says that it is wise to have a car's first few services at an authorised or branded dealer, simply to ensure that any recalls or updates are carried out and just for the piece of mind it offers.
"After the first service though, the perceived value of having a main service dealer stamp reduces in direct relation to the mileage. The more miles a car has, the less value the main dealer stamps are," he says.
"When it comes to selling the car, the first thing the potential buyer will request is a service history," says Mr Byrne.
"That is the important thing, the stamps, mileage records and the receipts. Rarely will the buyer actually check where the stamps are from."
However, there may be certain problems specific to your car's make or model that independent garages may not be equipped to fix.
"Any major or serious problems should be done at main dealer and from my experience when this happens, the independent garage will tell you to do this anyway," says Mr Byrne.
