What is the actual point of a car service? Ford, I’m looking at you!

[Meelly]

I could swear that once upon a time, mechanics actually did things as part of the service, topped up oil fluid and all those things.

Today I have the privilege of paying £290 for a Ford service and it seems to include very little, being mostly comprised of “visual checks.”

I’m getting my MOT done at the same time, but the garage has decided to do the service before the MOT. Apparently the car could happily go through its service and yet fail its MOT, which makes no sense.

Should I even bother with a service in the future? If I have to pay separately for oil and fluid changes anyway then what’s the point?

Go somewhere else? My service includes engine oil and filter change, Aircon recharge and all that jazz. They should've told you what they'd be doing before doing it.

We normally get a service and MOT together and they always do the service first. Normally oil and fluids are included with the basic service where we take ours but it looks like the cheapest option at a Ford service centre doesn't state it includes them, the Ford essentials service does however. You can check what's included before you book

Hmm, today’s is the expensive Ford service option, the one that includes the year of breakdown cover.

Which service is it, have you got a link?
I work in the area and that should include oil and filter change otherwise it's just a visual health check

Apparently the car could happily go through its service and yet fail its MOT, which makes no sense.

Should I even bother with a service in the future? If I have to pay separately for oil and fluid changes anyway then what’s the point?

What did the car fail its MOT on?

MOT and service are two separate things; MOT is a roadworthiness check, they don't change any parts.

So if the car failed on (say) tyre tread depths, or a windscreen chip, it wouldn't necessarily have been covered in the service anyway.

But yeah, a service should include an oil and oil filter change at least.

And don't take cars to the main stealer for servicing; you're far better off finding a reputable independent garage from a recommendation or on the good garage scheme or similar.

@FuckabethFuckor Main stealer 😆 that’s about right sometimes isn’t it?

I agree - even worse when you’ve got an electric car and your wondering what they’re doing for their £100 odd pounds other than the aircon and brakes. The rest they’re just plugging into a computer.

It's a bit of a waste of money getting it done at the dealership. Always extortionate costs and cars devalue so rapidly, I don't think 'dealer serviced' cars fetch a higher price than one serviced somewhere else. Whenever you come to sell you lose money.