Interim vs Full Service: What’s the Difference?
Published: 16.02.2018
To keep your car safe on the road, the general advice to vehicle owners is to get your car serviced every year or every 12,000 miles – whichever comes first.
As well as preventing breakdowns and improving safety, fuel economy and your vehicle’s life expectancy, regular servicing can also increase the value of your car when you come to sell it.
Buyers are often willing to pay a higher price when they see a fully stamped service book.
But if you are covering a lot of miles, then getting a full service every time your clock hits a multiple of 12,000 can be a real drag. And it isn’t always necessary.
If you drive long miles for work and cover more than 20,000 each year, then you might only need an interim service.
As well as how you use your car, the frequency with which you service the car can also depend on recommended mileage in the service handbook and the age of the car.
What is an interim service?
An interim service covers all the major fluids – including brake fluid, screen wash and coolant, as well as major components and components that wear out quickly, like the engine, plugs, filters, battery, lights and tyres.
Browse a full list of what’s typically included in a service here:
At Duffy Motors, we offer different services based on what a client’s car needs. We can either organise an annual servicing schedule or offer basic interim health checks to keep cars in top fighting condition.
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The franchised dealer service myth that could cost you £1,000s
Analysis from What Car reveals that almost 90% of motorists get their car serviced at a franchised dealer in the first year of owning the car, despite franchised dealers being more expensive.
As cars get older, more and more people switch to independent garages. By the time a car is seven years old, almost half of owners get their cars serviced outside a franchised dealership.
Who Can Fix My Car found that independent garages were, on average, 18% cheaper than franchised dealerships. This is particularly true if a service or MOT reveals that more specialist work needs to be carried out.
So why do people still go to franchised dealers?
One common perception persists about new car servicing. Many people think that you can’t take a new car to an independent garage without being penalised by the manufacturer.
This isn’t true. EU competition laws introduced in 2003 stopped car manufacturers from forcing owners to use their franchised dealers for servicing and repair work.
Dealers that warn buyers that their warranty will be void if they use another garage are incorrect and could be acting illegally.
If your vehicle is under warranty (new warranties usually last for three years) then it can still be serviced at an independent garage like Duffy Motors, without invalidating the conditions of the dealership warranty.
As long as the service is carried out to the manufacturers specifications, using approved parts and techniques, then the vehicle’s warranty will remain valid.