Servicing proactively maintains your car, reducing the risk of a breakdown. Even if it is irregular, servicing can also help maintain your car’s value. It is also your responsibility to ensure that your vehicle is examined every 12 months and is issued with an MOT certificate. It is a legal requirement in the UK to have an MOT certificate issued to your car, as without one you will be unable to renew your road tax and your car may not be insured.

Assuming your car is over 3-years old, your annual MOT renewal date is the natural point to get your car serviced. However, many car owners fully service their car every year or every 12,000 miles – whichever comes earlier. If you suspect that there is a problem with your car, you should always seek expert advice at the earliest opportunity.

A Full Service is ideal for an annual maintenance programme for your car and recommended every 12,000 miles or 12 months – whichever comes sooner (although some manufacturers may recommend more regular checks). Interim Servicing is ideal for vehicles used for short, mainly urban journeys or for those who wish to service vehicles doing very high mileage more regularly. An Interim Service every 6,000 miles or 6 months helps keep your car safe and roadworthy between full services.

The short answer to this question is that you can take your car to be serviced at a main dealership! However, in doing so the likelihood is that you will pay much more compared to a local independent garage. It used to be the case that in order to maintain your vehicle manufacturers warranty, you could only take your vehicle to a main dealership for your car servicing and repair requirements. However, this was seen as anti-competitive by the European Union and a legislation change was made. This change means that you no longer have to go to the main dealer for car servicing or repairs to ensure that your manufacturer’s warranty is maintained (NB: you only have to take your car to the main dealership for “warranty related” work). As a result, you are now free to choose any quality independent garage to complete your car servicing and repair needs. Provided that your vehicle is serviced using the manufacturers schedules, repaired within the manufacturers guidelines, and with dealer quality parts, your vehicle manufacturer’s warranty will not be affected. At Cottage Street Garage, we provide the same quality service as a main dealership, but at a much more affordable price!

We work on a fixed price service scheme and no additional repair works will be undertaken without the prior consent of our customers. In some cases when a part is nearing the end of its life, it can be a matter of judgement as to whether that part should be replaced now or left a little longer. We will explain the options as clearly as we can, and you are free to seek a second opinion, but rest assured Cottage Street Garage will never complete any additional work until we have your authority to do so.

Cottage Street Garage’s oil change service is a great supplement between full or interim services, especially when preparing for a long journey or just to ensure peace of mind! Our oil change service includes changing the engine oil and filter, but we will also check other essential items such as tyres, batteries or lights, as well as essential fluids like brake or power steering fluids. However, it should be stressed that our oil change service is not a substitute for a full or interim service, and therefore does not give a service history stamp.

Opening Times
Monday – Thursday: 8:00am – 5:30pm

Friday: 8:00am – 4:30pm

Weekends & Bank Holidays: Closed

Find Us
Cottage Street Garage
Cottage Street
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK11 8DZ