How Often Should You Service Your Car?

Service intervals vary by manufacturer, engine type, and how the car is actually driven — there is no single UK-wide rule, but there are sensible general principles.

Follow the manufacturer schedule first

Your car’s handbook (or the onboard service indicator on newer cars) sets out the manufacturer’s recommended interval, usually based on time (commonly annually) or mileage (commonly every 10,000–20,000 miles), whichever comes first. This is the baseline to work from.

Short journeys need more frequent servicing, not less

A car that mostly does short trips and cold starts, even with low overall mileage, generally wears certain components faster than one doing regular longer motorway journeys — oil in particular does not get to fully warm through on short hops.

Full service vs interim service

A full service covers a longer, more thorough checklist and is typically done annually or at the full mileage interval. An interim service, often done at the halfway point, covers fewer items and is common for cars doing higher annual mileage.

Servicing and MOT are not the same thing

An MOT checks a fixed set of legal safety and emissions requirements once the car passes three years old. A service is a broader manufacturer-recommended maintenance check and is not legally required — but skipping it increases the risk of the kind of faults that later show up as MOT failures or breakdowns.

Keeping a service history

A documented service history matters for warranty claims and resale value, even if it costs slightly more to always use a main dealer or a garage that stamps the book properly.