Please service your car before time as it is always better than being late.
We have always serviced our cars before the due time to make sure our cars ‘work for us’ instead of ‘we having to work for our cars’.
For owners of new cars still under warranty, please remember that servicing on time is very important to maintain your warranty as some car manufacturers will use your negligence of NOT servicing on time to void warranty claims when and if they crop up.
You Need A Reminder
For us, like many Malaysians who own old cars that are no longer under warranty, we need to be mindful on servicing and not be laid-back about keeping your car running trouble-free to prevent long term issues. Older cars still need to be pampered and you need to find a workshop that is run by a trusted person who knows what they are doing. This is why the little sticker on the top of your windscreen to remind you of your next service date is important and you must take note with a reminder on your smartphone (please take an average reading of you daily mileage).
Many car owners fail to take notice of the little sticker and when their mileage is past the service due date, issues arise in the future.
We recently noticed the mileage for our 14-year old Subaru was coming up close to the next service mileage on our windscreen and we quickly called our trusted Subaru workshop on Sunday to schedule an appointment at the soonest. They replied that they were busy for the next 4 days and gave us a 10am appointment on Friday. Luckily we had some kilometers to spare. Yes, a few hundred kilometers past the due mileage will not ‘kill’ the car, but we follow a strict rule to never go past the due mileage on all our old cars.
Why This Workshop
Well, this particular workshop is managed by a mechanic that has worked with Subaru’s for more than 25 years. He comes highly recommended. There are many die-hard Subaru owners in Klang Valley who will conform this.
Workshop owners like this start from scratch to build relationships with paying customers, whereas the authorized workshop will provide you years of free service (under your new car servicing agreement) to foster goodwill.
Authorized dealerships have clean bathrooms, comfortable waiting areas, free Wi-Fi, free snacks and drinks and sometimes even a loaner car to make your like easy. All this is cost and this cost has to be paid with higher labour costs and higher parts pricing.
The regular workshop bathroom is far from useable, no free Wi-Fi and snacks and if you are lucky there might be a mamak restaurant nearby with low quality food and drink at an inflated price. This really does not matter to us as we want to wait and watch our car being serviced.
At the end of the day, our car is well looked after and the experienced and trusted mechanic has actually serviced our car as we have seen it with out own eyes.
How Much?
Our bill for this visit was just RM591.00 for high quality Millers lubricant, original oil filter and this included fixing our windshield washer motor. It took about two hours and we are totally satisfied and happy to pay this bill.
So, please check your little service interval sticker on your windscreen and if you do not have one, then please check when was it last that you serviced your car (the mileage recorded).
