By Leo, Lead Technician – EuroLab Ltd, Auckland
You see car servicing outfits advertising 100/185/236 point checks on your vehicle? These checks are claimed to be done at your regular service intervals recommended by your manufacturer, right? Your chosen service mechanic markets these checks as part of their Bronze – Silver – Gold packages, BUT…
What does it all mean? Do you need all these checks? Is it best to go with the guys that do the most number of checks?
The Importance of Real Checks
It is undoubtedly essential to have different aspects of your vehicle checked at the annual service. Checking various components of the engine, drive train, and suspension can surely prevent costly catastrophic failures. It also ensures your safety and anybody that uses your vehicle.
Unfortunately, our industry has used this as a way to justify their charges, and they are not ashamed of it. Most outfits that have such packages add items to the checklist that are not relevant to your vehicle. At times, they straight out lie about providing checks on items that cannot reasonably be completed in the service time frame.
The Fake Checks We’ve Found
Below are just some of the “checks” that we have found on typical servicing centre schedules that truly add NO value at all:
❌ “Lubricate doors and chassis”
Seriously? The chassis is the frame of the vehicle — it’s welded together and does not require lubrication. If the reference here is ball joints and suspension components, then that would NOT apply to any vehicle from the last three decades. On modern vehicles, all these parts are non-serviceable and are replaceable. Doors are lubricated from the factory, and when the grease runs out on joints (after many years), you would hear your door squeak. This is hardly a “Check.”
❌ “Clean & adjust brakes”
If you have a vehicle from this century and it uses brake disc/rotors, there are simply NO adjustments that can be done. Cleaning the brakes would require the disassembly of all brake components on the vehicle, which is rarely done. This task, if done as marked, takes time and money, and is certainly NOT done as a standard quick “check” during your inexpensive service.
❌ “Top up all fluids as required”
This is extremely dangerous as we have seen it done incorrectly time and time again. The steering wheel fluids, transmission, coolant, and brake fluids are all VERY specific for your vehicle. Mechanics however, only usually carry one brand and type of fluid for each component. When the workshop’s fluids mix with your vehicle’s fluids, the chemicals have the potential to react in a wrong way, changing their properties, and damaging the components they’re designed to protect.
For example, topping up your RED coloured G12++ type coolant with green glycol coolant will chemically react and form a brown sludge. In turn, this causes blocking of the smaller pathways within your cooling system and starves the engine of much-needed water circulation. This seemingly minor oversight can lead to overheating and catastrophic engine failure.
❌ “Checking electrical and wiring harness”
Wiring harness on modern cars is encased with insulation and a protective cover. A wiring harness runs as a continual line from the front of the vehicle, through the cabin, all the way to the rear bumper. They would have to pull out the entire protective casing on every harness to inspect this.
❌ “Check wiper blades, fluid and horn”
I think if any one of these items weren’t working, you would know. You don’t need a mechanic to tell you that.
❌ “Inspect idle stop solenoid”
That would have been applicable if you drove a vehicle from the 1980s. Modern cars do not have this solenoid.
❌ “Idle speed/mixture adjustment”
Again, this would have only been applicable on a vehicle from the 1980s. Nowadays, in fuel-injected motors, idle speed and air/fuel ratio are controlled by your engine’s computer.
❌ “Radiator and heater cores inspected”
Radiator inspection, sure. Heater core? We would have to remove your entire dashboard to check or replace that.
❌ “Check fan belt and adjust as required”
Sure… if you had a car from the 1980s. Today’s fans on both Japanese and European vehicles are electric.
❌ “Fuel filter check”
Fuel filters are enclosed in a metal capsule and are not serviceable nor can they be checked. Replace as per your manufacturer’s requirement.
❌ “Check distributor cap”
This is for cars earlier than the 1990s generation. Simply not applicable to modern vehicles.
Our Approach: Honesty Over Hype
We would instead work with honesty and disclose to the customer precisely what our service entails. This is why we provide a check sheet of precisely what we ACTUALLY did at the end of every service we complete for you.
