g-man85 Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 At what point guys have any of you decided to throw the towel in the corner and stop paying mechanics to service you cars?I'm getting to a point whereby i'd rather service my car myself because it'll save me a small fortune on the long run now i'm driving 450 miles a week which puts my car needing minor services every 3-4 months!!! My car has had its life with me serviced by VAG specialists and whilst they are ace guys, not sure i can afford in the long term to keep paying people to do services which I'm more than capable of changing Fuel, air, cabin and oil filters and oil which are pretty much the only items that need doing on a regular'ish basis on the TDI's.Brakes and major engine components will still be done by the pro's but how much damage will this do to my cars resale value given my car only has part service history, which the car is missing the first 28K of its life do to the first owner passing away and his son inheriting the car without all the service books/documents Arghhh! When is a suitable time to just service the car yourself???!!!I know everyone loves the service stamps but its costing me a bit to maintain the stamps and not sure if the costs to keep the stamps will ever outweigh the value lost on the car by not having the service book stamped????I'm tempted to service the car myself but keep a detailed log of work done bymyself whilst attaching parts replaced to the personal diary/log as some kind of reassurance its next owner it has been serviced.Opinions please on if i'm being silly wanting to stop paying people to change a few filters I can do easily or whether realistically I should do the servicing myself to save money (and time arranging servicing and being without the car)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r44my_k Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 service it yourself and keep it forever! if you keep a record of when you service im quite sure you wont regret the slight decrease in value of the car i personally wouldent have a problem buying it as long as theres evidence of the importnat things being done (cam belts)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-man85 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 Oh cambelts/suspension/brakes etc....will all be done by the mechanics!!! They've already been done so I know its next year the brake fluid needs changing and cambelt isn't due to another 30K miles/3 years as long as it doesn't begin to perish! lolI just mean the interchangeable service items which are the filters which are SOOOOOO easy to do yet paying £250 is quite annoying!AVS parts for the Arosa TDI is £45 for fuel, pollen, air and oil filters. Then add £30 for 5L of oil. So £75 for a major service compared to £200-250 is a saving in itself!I keep reciepts for everything I buy for my car, as its hard proof at least the parts have been bought.I'm tempted to get a nice little book to write down the date, mileage and parts replaced and then staple the reciepts to it as evidence the parts where used. Some may not like that, but to me I know its been done and saves me a bit as ultimately the Arosa is likely to stay whilst I save. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one litre wonder ;) Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 brake pads are a walk in the park , rather than paying £100+ for them to be done you can do them for £25 for a set of pads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardaft Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 I service mine myself, ive had so much trouble with garages that i know when i do it myself im getting a proper job done, its also less coslty!. Everything it needs gets done.I got the cambelt replaced by a garage when i got the car, they also gave it a full service. Ever since then however i have done it myself, i usually change the oil every 7-8K. I use a Forte engine flush before i change the oil too, which wouldnt getdone at most garages. Everything i do to my car is written in its service history, from filters, to tyres, to oil changes. Since my dad was a mechanic we have the stamps which were used, so i stamp the service book with that then it looks better. When i bought the car it had full Seat service history from new, but i knew id never take it back to seat and i had been getting more interested in doing bits and pieces to my car so decided id just do it myself. It had a service at 26K and it was then 4 years old, at the seat dealer which it had been serviced and bought from new. So bearing that in mind i was expecting everything to have been done, cambelt, filters, brake fluid. But nope, so i got the cambelt done and the filters and the fluid, so at least everyone will know its been done now, especially me. I took my 1.0 to a seat dealer once for a service, and i couldnt tell if they had done anything at all, oil still looked just as dirty and no filters were changed. All i notice were the tyres were down to 26PSI all round, what on earth. Ive no confidence in using a dealer at all. I did take the TDi to Seat a 2 months ago for its brake fluid change, so it has got a seat stamp in the book for that. Also changed my front discs and pads not so long ago too, really easy to do, and there isnt really anything you can do wrong, especially if you use all the right torque setting like i do. I mean really mine is an 02 car, worth about £3Kish, there aint really a huge ammount too lose, and i carnt really see that servicing it myself has lost it any value at all, its just a cheap car, and if the next buyers see in the service its been stamped and serviced more often than it should have been then it looks better. For me now id not even think about taking it anywhere but doing it meself, since i know im getting a proper job, and ive no plans to sell it anytime soon, not that it would damage the resale value much, if at all. Get it serviced yourself, only stupid people would make a fuss of that come resale, especially if you have written down everything you have done to the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-man85 Posted November 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Great response - funny how you say the same regarding value of the car and not much more to loose.I have Forte engine flush to use.Change of filters is a simple job really and since i've stripped off the bumpers and undertray before accessing service parts isn't an issue.Fancy doing the brakes myself next time too with a little bit of help from my dad.I have confidence in my mecahnics and trust them 100%.Oil filer and fuel filter are coming from Seat dealer whilst air filter and pollen filter are coming from GSF/Eurocarparts as they sell MANN one's anway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardaft Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Forte is the best there is Just changed my air filter at my last service, that was a pit of a pain but it helps loads on the arosa since you can remove the cover (as if you were going to use the toe eye) and you can get to the filter housing much easier through there.The brakes are really easy to change, the hardest part is getting out the screw which holds the disc to the hub, but its not too bad with the right tools. I say they are easier to change than the 1.0 brakes. I always get VW filters, although my air filter is a motaquip one i think, just because i needed one that second since i already had it in bits and the VW garage is about 20 miles away. You have a bit of a sense of achievement when you service your own car too, not to mention i quite enjoy doing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-man85 Posted November 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Going into Seat tomorrow after work to price up parts as not really wanting to use cheapo parts from GSF or Eurocarparts.Also checking up on the oil as going to get some VAG PD oil to use, but using my Forte engine flush since i've got it to use on hand.Replacing my green cotton air filter element as don't really need that in there, and prefer a clean fresh paper item from now on even though I do clean the filter thouroughly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc1001 Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 (edited) If you speak to he right people at Eurocarparts they will sell you genuine vw/seat parts and undercut the dealer, eurocarparts go straight the germany for the parts so can sell them on cheaper than a dealer, just thought that would help and save money Edited November 20, 2007 by marc1001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_273 Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 At what point guys have any of you decided to throw the towel in the corner and stop paying mechanics to service you cars?As soon as I learnt how to do it myself!I write the mileage on the receipt for the oil and filter and keep it in the vehicle wallet, if it's a big service with air filters and other things then I write it in the service schedule, but if its just a 6k mile oil change then I probably wouldn't bother. I like to buy genuine parts too, but thats partly to do with the extended warranty cover.I did this with my last car and had a big pile of receipts for service items like filters and oil, but when the people came to see my car they didn't even look at it. I told them it was serviced and I presume they just took my word for it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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