Car Maintenance Schedule
Maintenance is cheaper than repair, and far cheaper than an MOT failure. Here is what needs doing, roughly when, and why it pays off.
Why does a maintenance routine matter?
Almost everything that fails an MOT gives warning first. Brakes squeal before they fail, tyres wear past the line gradually, and a service light glows for weeks before anything breaks. A car that is looked after on a sensible schedule rarely fails its test on the predictable items, which is exactly why a clean MOT history makes a car easier to sell and worth more. Maintenance is not an expense competing with the MOT; it is what makes the MOT a formality.
You do not need to be a mechanic. The most valuable habit is simply checking a few things each month and knowing the rough intervals for the bigger jobs, so nothing creeps up on you. Your car's handbook has the manufacturer's exact figures; treat the numbers below as typical guidance rather than gospel.
What should I check every month?
Five minutes on the driveway each month catches most problems while they are still cheap. Check your tyre pressures when the tyres are cold, using the figures on the sticker inside the driver's door, and look across the tread for uneven wear; the legal minimum is 1.6mm but grip falls off sharply below 3mm. While you are there, glance over each tyre's sidewall for bulges or cracks.
Then lift the bonnet and check the levels: engine oil on the dipstick (with the car level and the engine cold), coolant between the marks on the expansion tank, brake fluid, and the screen wash, which is an MOT item in its own right. Walk around the car testing every light, since a blown bulb is the single most common MOT failure and the cheapest to fix. Finally, take note of anything your senses flag during normal driving: a new squeal, a warning light, a vibration or a pull to one side is the car telling you something needs attention before it becomes a bill.
How often does a car need servicing?
Most cars are designed around two levels of service. An interim or oil service, roughly every 6,000 to 9,000 miles or once a year, changes the engine oil and filter and gives the car a basic check over; clean oil is the cheapest insurance an engine has. A full or major service, usually every 12,000 to 18,000 miles or every two years, adds the air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs on petrol cars and a more thorough inspection of brakes, suspension and steering.
Whichever interval applies to your car, the "or once a year" part matters as much as the mileage. Oil degrades with time and short journeys as well as with distance, so a low-mileage car that only does short trips still needs its annual oil change. Keeping the service book stamped, or the digital record updated, also protects the car's value: a documented history is one of the first things a buyer looks for.
What are the big-ticket jobs to plan for?
A few components wear out on longer cycles and cost enough that they are worth budgeting for in advance. The most important is the timing belt (cam belt) on engines that have one: typically due every 60,000 to 100,000 miles or around every five years, and a job worth £300 to £800. It is not optional maintenance, because a snapped timing belt can destroy the engine entirely, turning a planned few-hundred-pound job into a scrapped car. If you buy a used car near that mileage with no record of the belt being done, assume you will be paying for it soon and price the car accordingly.
Brakes are the other recurring cost: pads often last around 25,000 to 40,000 miles and discs roughly twice that, though hard or town driving wears them faster. Tyres typically cover 20,000 to 30,000 miles depending on the car and how it is driven. Other fluids have long lives but are not forever, brake fluid is usually changed every two years and coolant every few, and a clutch on a manual can last the life of the car or wear out early depending entirely on how it has been driven.
How does MOT history help me plan maintenance?
Your own car's MOT record is a free maintenance planner most owners never open. The advisories are the tester's notes on what is starting to wear, so reading last year's advisories tells you what to budget for this year: "brake pads wearing thin" or "tyre close to the legal limit" is a job you can do on your own schedule, in your own time, for less than an emergency repair would cost. Acting on advisories before the next test also turns near-certain failures into easy passes.
Check your MOT history a couple of months before your test is due, line the advisories up against the monthly checks above, and you will rarely be caught out. A little planning replaces the nasty surprise of a failed MOT with a predictable, spread-out maintenance budget.
Typical service intervals
- Monthly — tyres, fluid levels, lights, screen wash
- Annually or ~6,000-9,000 miles — interim/oil service
- Every 2 years or ~12,000-18,000 miles — full service
- Every 60,000-100,000 miles or ~5 years — timing belt (£300-£800)
- 25,000-40,000 miles — brake pads; 20,000-30,000 miles — tyres
Check Your Vehicle's MOT History
Review advisories to see what maintenance might be needed soon. Plan ahead for expected repairs.
Check MOT History