What should I do?

I've recently bought a car, a 12 year old hatchback that is showing its age. A service is going to cost fair wonga and I'm really not sure if I should just flog the banger once the winter is out or cough up for a service.

Bearing in mind if I sell the car I probably won't be able to afford another one.

I would say it depends upon why you think it is showing its age, Older cars are not necessarily bad, they just may not look as pretty. They are also less of a target for joy-riders - there is no kudos in bragging about pinching an ancient old mini for example! I've had many cars older than that with no real trouble - but it might depend upon your confidence in the car, if it starts OK, drives OK doesn't appear to be leaking its life blood fluids I would hang on to it and get it serviced. Not sure if you know a good garage, but kwikfit seem to be doing a good deal at the moment

Thanks for the good advice,

I'll be giving a couple of garages a call tomorrow to ask about servicing. I wish I have the time to invest in learning about cars, but alas, academia is the vampire of time. Being a scientist I don't trust anything I can't see or thoroughly test; car engines fall into that category.

I've come up with a dastardly plan too, if the service +any work is more then, say, £500 I'll flog the car to some unsuspecting international student. May as well get in on the act alongside the universities! Just hope they don't recognise the top hat...

once upon a time, in the dim and distant past, you could do a lot of car servicing yourself, I have in my time taken engines apart and put them back together again, it used to be just like meccano really, I've changed brake pads etc. and done loads of minor bits, but now you open the bonnet and you wish you hadn't bothered! There isn't a lot you can do without the diagnostic kit so you have to use a garage. Older cars tend to be better in this respect, and should be cheaper to service since they don't need the sophistication of computer diagnostics. I would never sell on an iffy car to anyone other than a garage, you will feel guilty, a garage should know what they are buying so if they don't it is down to them, otherwise it is just mean.:$

Well I guess it depends on how much you depend on it....how inconvenient would it be not to have it? To be honest, I only really use my car to visit my research participants- I could get around the city quite easily even just on foot apart from that, so probably wouldn't bother except for my PhD visits. Be careful- you can end up spending a fortune on a car that really isn't worthy of having the money spent on it when it gets to that sort of age, depending on what it is and whether it's in good shape or not. If you take it for a service, take someone with you who knows a bit about cars- I know bugger all and I worry about being taken advantage of sometimes! One thing I would say from my recent experience is if you keep it, make sure it's in half-decent condition and structurally solid if you're driving on the motorway in it. My car was 9 years old when I crashed the other week, it's only little and quite old, but even though it was written off it kept me safe (broken foot and whiplash aside) and I was glad I was in something that wasn't a wreck and had airbags etc. The other car sustained much more damage than mine and I suspect we would have been talking fatalities or at least very severe injuries if it hadn't been such a big, well-built car. I know you can't go through life thinking about the 'what-ifs', but sometimes you are forced to think about them! KB

If you avoid main dealers and chains like (Halfords, Kwik fit and Mr Clutch) which are a total rip-off where you are only paying for the brand name, a service at a trusted local independent garage should't cost much more than £100 - 150.

Why bother with a service? They are not essential like tax and MOT etc. As long as its running fine and oil and coolant/antifreeze are at the correct levels (easy to check) then I wouldn't waste any money with services if the car is old or low-value. A full service history won't add any value to a car that is already past its best and already lost most of its value.

Save your money things that are needed to legally keep the car on the road like tax, insurance and MOT!

Our branch of kwick fit is very good, they never do anything unnecessary, several times I've been in to get things checked out because I thought they might need attention and they have come back and said there was nothing needed at present, and they have often done minor things without charge, like mending a slow puncture. 12 isn't old for a car nowadays, they should last much longer than that! I always get mine serviced though, they are too difficult to do yourself now - at least they are for me. and at the moment I haven't the time to spare doing something that takes me hours and a mechanic 10mins ...there is always the one nut that you can't get undone :$