Contract car hire - servicing

[Burdock]

I have a long term contract car hire with Citroen (2 years). I chose not to pay extra for maintenance, and so am responsible for getting the car serviced. Unfortunately, the service schedule is every 10,000 miles....and I am currently covering this distance every 4 months.

I am loathe to fork ouit for a service 3 times a year, so I am wondering what would happen if I just did it annually. Do you think they would penalise me when I return the car (even if it was in perfect working order).

I rang them, and nobody could give me a straight answer.

Wondered if anybody had experience of long term hire.

Cheers folks.

[Bagpuss]

you WILL get charged. The service interval is 10,000 miles or every year, whichever occurs first, or words to that effect. There is nothing to stop you taking it to an independant garage though, I would have thought

[Troll]

I went through a similar thing with my new 4x4 - Mistsibushi are the only company that spec a mandatory dealer service on their cars ( as confirmed by the lease company) for the others you can use a 'competant' workshop without affecting your warranty. and reduce your costs

Doing 30 rather than 10k per service will seriously affect the resale value so should be avoided & I imagine would be heavily penalised by the lease co
What kind of mileage did you sign up to on your lease - your other option would be to disconnect the speedo... which of course is illegal

[DS23]

doing 60k in 6 months or six years you will need servicing. some of that car stuff fails if you don't look after it regular like.

[Troll]

doing 60k in 6 months or six years you will need servicing. some of that car stuff fails if you don't look after it regular like.

Are you also a Geordie ?

[DS23]

nope, but sometimes a little bit of sally drops out, like.

[~Craig~]

you're not obliged to take it to a dealer for servicing. You can take it to any independant garage as long as they are VAT registered and use the correct parts.

[Burdock]

cheers guys for the tips...have booked it into an independent garage..saves about £100. thieving dealers!

Troll- I have 30K p/a allowed on the lease. Makes sense whilst I am commuting (I love the M1 ), but I would stay overnight if the next gig is any further afield...so I guess those miles are gonna be a big surplus. Never mind.

cheers again!

[Paddy]

Sounds like money down the drain to me. One you are over the mileage you will be paying a penalty per mile and if you miss a service you will pay another penalty.

If you are ding 40k per year missing a service will put the engine at risk: eg cam-belt braking and hence busting the valves. That could cost you £1000.

I buy disposable cars under £2000 and before using them I get ALL of the necessities changed like cam-belts battery and brakes. I end up getting at 100,000 miles trouble free motoring. If I need a better looking car then I hire one short term.

The result is it cost pennies to run the car and I claim full mileage allowance against the company.