Car servicing that keeps the warranty and the receipts

Which service does your car actually need?

Servicing is the one area where garages are most tempted to sell you the biggest option every time. It is not necessary. What your car needs depends on its age, its mileage, and how it is used — a 12,000-mile-a-year diesel doing motorway runs wants something different from a five-year-old petrol that does 3,000 miles of short journeys.

Tell Erdi the registration, the mileage and roughly what the car does, and he will tell you which service it is due, when the next one falls, and what he would genuinely leave until then.

What goes into a full service

The word "service" covers everything from an oil change with a sticker to a proper inspection. Here is what is actually done:

• Engine oil to your manufacturer's specification. Not "5W-30" as a catch-all — the exact approval your engine requires. Modern engines with particulate filters need low-SAPS oil, and the wrong grade will block a DPF and cost you far more than the oil saved.
• Oil filter, air filter, fuel filter and cabin filter. Quality brands. The cabin filter is the one every cheap service skips, and it is the one you actually breathe through.
• Brakes measured, not glanced at. Pad thickness and disc condition recorded in millimetres, so you can see how much life is left rather than being told "they'll need doing soon" for three years running.
• Tyres, including the spare. Tread depth across the width, pressures, age of the rubber, and any wear pattern that points at tracking or a worn bush.
• Fluids, belts, hoses, battery and lights. Coolant strength tested, brake fluid moisture tested, auxiliary belt checked for cracking, battery load tested.
• A written report of anything found. Split into what needs doing now, what to watch, and what is fine. No pressure and no scare tactics.
• Service book stamped, or the digital record updated.

Oil changes on their own

If your car is only doing a few thousand miles a year, a full service every twelve months can be more than it needs — but the oil still ages. An oil and filter change from £69 keeps the engine protected without paying for filters that are barely dirty. Erdi will say when that is the sensible option.

MOT preparation

MB Auto is not an MOT testing station, but a pre-MOT check is part of what happens here — and it is genuinely worth doing. Anything likely to fail gets found and quoted before the test, so you are not getting a phone call from a test centre with work already under way. Erdi will take the vehicle to a local station and back as part of the collection service.

Cars, vans, SUVs and 4x4s

All mainstream makes, petrol and diesel, manual and automatic. Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Citroën, Renault, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Škoda, SEAT, Volvo, Land Rover, Mini, Fiat, Mazda, Suzuki and Dacia come through regularly. Van servicing and fleet schedules are covered on the vans and fleet page.