Big service due? Service the car or sell it first

If you plan to sell within the next few months, get an offer before you book a big scheduled service, then decide. If your warranty depends on that service, or you’re keeping the car beyond the next few months, book it and have it done on time.

A service paid for just before a sale only earns its keep if a buyer values the fresh stamp more than it cost you, and asking a buyer is the only way to find out. What you can’t do is go back and fill a missed interval. The choice most likely to cost you is letting the car drift further overdue while you decide.

What counts as a “major service”?

There’s no official definition. Each manufacturer sets its own schedule in the logbook or the brand’s app, usually as a time and a kilometre interval, whichever comes first. Most services cover the basics, such as oil and filters. Some add extra items, and those are the ones owners call “major”.

Depending on the model, the bigger services can include:

• Spark plugs, and air and cabin filters
• Brake fluid and coolant
• Transmission or differential fluid
• A timing belt, on engines that have one
• Extra inspections the schedule lists for that interval

Check your own schedule, then ask the workshop for a written quote that lists each item, so you know exactly what you’d be paying for. Prices vary widely by model and workshop, so that quote is the only number worth using.

If you’re close to 100,000 km, check whether a big service and the six-figure reading land together. Our guide on whether crossing 100,000 km lowers your car’s value covers the kilometre side of that decision.

Will a buyer pay more if the service is done?

Sometimes, but don’t count on getting the full cost back. A buyer reads two things in the service record: whether every past service was done on time, and how soon the next one falls due. A fresh stamp helps with the second. It does nothing for the first.

A complete, documented history is widely reported to lift a car’s price. One car-buying business puts the difference at $1,000 to $4,000. Treat that as indicative only. It’s one business’s estimate, not an official figure, and it’s about the full record, so it doesn’t tell you what one extra service is worth. Our guide on whether service history affects car value covers lost logbooks, independent servicing and digital records.

What a single service changes is the next owner’s bill. If a big service is due now, whoever buys the car has to pay for it soon, and a careful buyer allows for that. Done just before the sale, the service moves that cost from the buyer to you. Whether you get it back depends on the buyer and the car, which is why the offer comes first.

There’s a second effect worth knowing. A service can turn up things you didn’t know about, such as worn brake pads or a weeping seal. Once a workshop has told you, tell the buyer. It’s better coming from you on the call than from their inspection.

What if the service is due now or only just overdue?

This is the simplest case. A car serviced on time all its life that is a few weeks or a few hundred kilometres past its next interval still has a clean record.

Here’s the order to work in:

1. Get an offer first. Tell the valuer the service is due and what the schedule lists for it.
2. Ask whether a completed service would change the offer. A genuine offer from a person, rather than an online estimate, lets you ask that question.
3. Get a written quote for the service and put it beside the answer.
4. Decide. If the service wouldn’t change the offer much, sell as is and let the buyer choose their own workshop. If it would, book it.
5. Don’t wait months. Due now becomes overdue quickly, and every week adds kilometres.

Many cars show a service reminder on the dash once a service falls due. Leave it alone. Resetting the reminder without doing the service hides the fact from the buyer, and the service record shows the gap anyway.

My car is 50,000 km overdue. Does it matter when I sell?

Yes, and sooner is better. The honest answer has two parts.

First, the gap is already there. If your schedule calls for a service every 15,000 km, being 50,000 km overdue means more than three intervals’ worth of driving without one. Servicing the car tomorrow won’t put those stamps in the book. A buyer will still see that the oil and filters ran well past the manufacturer’s intervals, and is likely to price in that risk.

Second, the gap keeps growing. Every month adds kilometres to the shortfall and makes the record harder to explain. A car that’s 50,000 km overdue on the day of the call is a different proposition from one that’s 60,000 km overdue three months later.

So decide this week rather than next season:

• Selling within a few weeks: sell as is, and state the gap plainly on the call, for example “last serviced at 30,000 km, now on 95,000 km”. A buyer can price a known gap. One found at the inspection looks like something you hid.
• Keeping it, or driving it every day for a while yet: service it now. Fresh oil and filters matter more for the coming months of driving than for the sale.
• A warning light is on, or something feels wrong: get it checked before you decide. Our guide to selling a car with a warning light on explains what to do once you have a diagnosis.

Can skipping the service affect the warranty?

It can, and that’s the clearest case for servicing on time even when you’re selling soon.

For most factory warranties, you don’t have to use the brand’s dealer. Consumer Affairs Victoria says qualified independent mechanics can do scheduled services without affecting the warranty, as long as the work follows the manufacturer’s specifications and genuine parts and lubricants are used. What the warranty does rely on is the servicing actually being done. Kia’s warranty page, for example, lists a lack of proper maintenance, as described in the owner’s manual, among its exclusions.

Some cover is stricter. Hyundai’s standard warranty is 5 years with unlimited kilometres. Passenger vehicles first registered from 1 June 2025 can have 7 years, but only if every scheduled service is done at an authorised Hyundai dealer, on schedule. If that requirement isn’t met, Hyundai’s warranty page says the car is no longer eligible for the extended warranty from that date. On a car like that, a skipped service doesn’t just leave a gap in the book. It removes extra years of cover the next owner would otherwise have had.

A factory warranty generally passes to the next owner when you sell, so the buyer inherits whatever your servicing record allows. If your car’s cover has conditions like Hyundai’s, service it on time at the right workshop, even if you’re selling soon. Our guide on whether remaining warranty adds value sets out what other brands say about passing cover on.

What happens to a prepaid or capped price service plan?

The two sound alike but work differently when you sell.

Kia says the balance of its 7-year capped price servicing remains with the vehicle for the new owner, along with the warranty and roadside assistance. Its capped prices apply when the car goes to an authorised Kia dealer. Other brands’ plans, and prepaid packages bought from a dealer, have their own terms, so read the plan document or ask the provider.

A prepaid plan changes the sums. If the big service is already paid for, doing it before you sell costs you little more than an afternoon, and the car presents with an on-time record. If the plan’s unused services pass to the next owner, a service you leave for the buyer isn’t wasted, but don’t let it run overdue while you decide. Either way, have the plan paperwork ready and mention it on the call.

How do you decide?

Work down this table and stop at the first row that fits your car.

A worked example (hypothetical numbers)

Say you own a 2022 SUV with a schedule of 12 months or 15,000 km, whichever comes first. The 60,000 km service is one of the bigger ones in its logbook. You’re on 58,500 km and drive about 1,500 km a month, so the service falls due in about a month.

• Selling within the month: the car changes hands at about 60,000 km with every service so far done on time. You get an offer, tell the valuer the 60,000 km service is due, and ask whether doing it first would change the number. If it wouldn’t, you sell as is.
• Undecided for four months: you’d be on about 64,500 km and 4,500 km overdue. The record now has its first gap, and the buyer still faces the service. Waiting was the worst of both options.
• Keeping it for another year: service it on time and keep the invoice. When you do sell, the record carries the car.

If a car’s warranty depended on on-time dealer servicing, as Hyundai’s 7-year cover does for passenger vehicles first registered from 1 June 2025, the first answer changes. The safer choice is to book the dealer service on time, so the cover can’t lapse during the handover.

What should you have ready for the inspection?

Have these in the glovebox or a folder on the day:

• The service logbook, or a dealer printout if your car’s history is digital
• Itemised receipts for recent work, including the new service if you did it
• Any written quote or workshop report that lists recommended work
• Service plan or capped price paperwork, with the number of services left
• The warranty booklet, with the start date
• Photo ID, the registration papers, your bank details for the payment, and your loan details if the car is under finance

On the call, be specific. Give the date and kilometres of the last service, when the next one falls due and what the schedule lists for it, and any gap. Those details let a buyer price the car you actually have, rather than allow for the unknown.

Service it or sell it: your call

The decision comes down to timing. If you’re selling soon and the service isn’t tied to your warranty, an offer tells you whether it’s worth paying for. If the warranty depends on it, or you’re keeping the car, do it on time. If it’s already overdue, service it or sell it now, before the gap grows. Weighing other dates too, such as the warranty end or a rego renewal? Our guide to the best time to sell a near-new car puts those triggers on one timeline.

If your car is 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less, you can get a free, no-obligation valuation from Sell Your Car Australia. A licensed dealer makes you a genuine offer by phone, not an online estimate, so mention when the next service is due and what it includes. If you accept, a deposit is often paid the same day, and the inspection happens at a time and place that suits you. The balance goes into your bank account, and the car is collected only after you confirm the funds have cleared. No fees come out of the offer. Older or higher kilometres? Send it through anyway and we’ll tell you straight away if we can help. Call 1800 73 55 73.