So the price has three parts: what the chain publishes, what the package actually replaces, and what lands on top once the car is on the ramp. Get all three and you can judge any quote you're handed.
On this page
What a service costs at the big chains
The chains price a service by tier and by engine size, and every figure they publish is a starting price. Here's what National and Kwik Fit list for each tier, from the smallest engine band to the largest.
| Service | National | Kwik Fit |
|---|---|---|
| Interim service | £219.99 to £289.99 | £186.95 to £251.95 |
| Full service | £279.99 to £349.99 | £246.95 to £311.95 |
| Major service | £329.99 to £399.99 | Not sold as a package |
| Full service with an MOT | £314.84 to £384.84 | £281.95 to £346.95 |
| What the MOT adds to a full service | £34.85 | £35.00 |
| Engine size bands | Up to 1,499cc; 1,500cc to 2,499cc; over 2,499cc | Up to 1,400cc; 1,401cc to 2,000cc; 2,001cc to 3,000cc; over 3,000cc |
Starting prices each chain publishes by engine size. The price for your car comes from your registration and your local centre.
Hold those figures loosely, because National's own pages can't agree on where a full service starts. The title of its pricing page says £209.99. The questions section lower down that same page says £229.99, its MOT-and-service page says £219.99, and the table itself starts at £279.99. Four starting prices, one chain. A starting price is advertising. The real figure comes when you enter your registration and postcode, which is exactly what National's quote form asks for.
Halfords publishes no engine-size table at all. Its full service "starts from £239.99, although the cost may vary depending on location and vehicle."
Why a bigger engine costs more
Both chains price in engine bands, three at National and four at Kwik Fit, and Kwik Fit is the one that tells you why: "Servicing pricing depends on the size of your engine and the oil to be used." The final figure then moves again with "the recommended oil for your vehicle and your selected centre."
So the full service cost for your car turns on three things: your engine, the oil your maker specifies and the centre you pick.
The gap is real money. At National a full service on the largest engine costs £70 more than on the smallest, £349.99 against £279.99, and at Kwik Fit the same spread is £65. If you drive something big, budget from the top of the range.
Main dealer or independent: what owners actually spent
Which?'s owner survey gives the clearest view of the dealer premium. Across every car in it, owners who used a franchised dealer spent £361 on servicing on average, against £260 at a local independent. For cars still on sale new, it was £331 against £262.
Be clear about what those numbers are. They're what owners spent on servicing over a year, with parts such as fluids, filters and even tyres included, and they aren't the price of one full service. The gap is still worth knowing: about £100 a year across all cars, and about £70 on models still on sale new. Plug-in hybrids cost the most to service in both age groups Which? reports, at £444 and £445.
If your car is still under its maker's warranty, check whether an independent service affects your warranty before you choose.
What our own cost profiles show
We keep our own yardstick as well. Across our 886 cost profiles for scheduled maintenance, the typical price runs from £101 to £372. Across our 790 profiles for car servicing and tune-up work, it runs from £259 to £581.
Those two ranges don't contradict each other. Each category collects a different mix of jobs, so the ranges sit in different places. Read them as two yardsticks, not as a cheap option and a dear one. Our category pages price to a location, so treat each range as one snapshot rather than a fixed line for the whole country.
These figures are ours, published on our own directory pages, and our who we are page introduces the team behind them.
What each price actually buys
The tier names sound standard, and they aren't. What a car service includes depends on whose menu you're reading, so the only fair comparison is part by part, taken from each chain's own package list.
| Part | Halfords | National | Kwik Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil and oil filter | Interim, full and major | Interim, full and major | Interim and full |
| Air filter | Full and major | Full and major | Full only |
| Cabin (pollen) filter | Major only | Major only, or at extra cost if due sooner | Not in either package |
| Brake fluid | Changed in the major | Changed in the major; tested in the full | Checked only; a change is £52.95 extra |
| Spark plugs | Not listed in any package | At extra cost when due, in every package | Not included in any package |
| Fuel filter | Not listed in any package | At extra cost when due, in every package | Not listed in either package |
| Gearbox oil | No gearbox oil change listed | Full and major include a conditional top-up if the gearbox isn't sealed. No gearbox oil change listed. | No gearbox oil change listed |
Oil and oil filter come with every tier, everywhere. The air filter arrives with the full service. Halfords and National change the brake fluid and cabin filter in their major packages. Spark plugs, the fuel filter and a gearbox oil change sit outside the packages compared here.
The top of each ladder is where quotes get compared wrongly. Kwik Fit's price list has an interim and a full, and no major, so its full is its top package, while at Halfords and National the full sits in the middle. Kwik Fit's own full-service page even says a full service is "also known as a Major Service", a few lines before it explains how the two differ. Set a Kwik Fit full against a Halfords or National full, never against their major.
Why a major service isn't the same everywhere
Halfords and National both define a major service by time. Halfords says its major "is intended for every 24 months or 24,000 miles", and National's checklist sets its major at the same 24 months or 24,000 miles.
What changes at that point is the parts list. National puts it this way: "we will change any parts recommended for a replacement every two years including a brake fluid change and a cabin filter replacement."
At Halfords and National, the major is their two-yearly package. It isn't catch-up work for a neglected car. Where no major exists, as at Kwik Fit, book those two-yearly parts separately when your handbook says they're due.
The extras that turn up on the bill
The package price covers the package, and nothing more. Four common things can make the final bill bigger than the booking page: parts your handbook says are due, brake fluid, VAT and the MOT line. Every one of them is predictable if you ask first.
Spark plugs, the fuel filter and the gearbox oil
Kwik Fit is blunt about it: "Replacement spark plugs are not included in our service packages." National's lists, at every tier including the major, carry the line "Report if Spark Plugs are due to be replaced according to mileage (additional charge applies)", with a matching line for the fuel filter. Halfords' lists name neither. National's full and major services top up gearbox fluid where applicable if the gearbox isn't sealed, but no chain lists a gearbox oil change.
Your handbook tells you whether these parts need changing and when, so they fall due in some years and not in others. That's why one year's service can cost noticeably more than the last.
Don't assume the yearly service changed the gearbox oil. None of these packages includes that change. It's the same story when you buy used: a "full service history" can turn out to be years of oil and filter changes, with nothing to show that the gearbox oil or the brake fluid was ever replaced. Read the invoices, not the stamps.
Brake fluid, if you didn't book a major
Brake fluid soaks up water over time, and that's the problem. As Kwik Fit puts it, "Moisture (water) absorption by brake fluid drastically reduces its boiling point". Left too long, old fluid can also leave you with a soft pedal and corrosion inside the braking system. Kwik Fit says manufacturers recommend a change "at least every two years if not sooner (check your vehicle handbook for details)".
At Kwik Fit and National, an interim or full service only checks the fluid, and National's full boil-tests it. So if the handbook says the change is due and you've booked a full, the change is extra. Kwik Fit charges £52.95 for it, "the same for all vehicle classes". The alternative at Halfords or National is to book the major. At National that step up from the full costs £50 in every engine band, and it buys the fluid change and a new cabin filter together. If both are due, we'd take it. Or book the job on its own with brake specialists near you.
VAT, and why a small garage's quote can look cheaper
A VAT-registered garage adds VAT at the standard rate of 20%, on labour and parts alike. Not every garage is registered, though. A business has to register if its taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in 12 months or it expects to pass £90,000 in the next 30 days. A small one-person garage under those tests may charge no VAT, which can make its quote look lower. "May" is the right word, because GOV.UK says a business under the threshold can choose to register anyway.
The law's view of a price is simple. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the total price of something offered to you as a consumer "includes any fees, taxes, charges or other payments that the consumer will necessarily incur".
So ask whether a quote includes VAT, every time, and compare totals only. A £200 quote plus VAT is a £240 bill.
Adding an MOT to the booking
The government caps the MOT fee at £54.85 for a car, and there's no VAT on it. GOV.UK says so plainly: "You do not pay VAT on the fee."
Booked as a bundle, it costs less. Adding an MOT to a full service costs £34.85 at National and £35.00 at Kwik Fit, and each chain charges the same add-on in every engine band. If you'd rather keep the two separate, book an MOT centre near you instead.
Northern Ireland works differently. There you book the MOT with the DVA, and the test takes place at one of its test centres rather than at the garage.
Which service your car actually needs
The answer is in your handbook, not on the booking page, and carmakers don't even use the chains' names. Volkswagen recommends "an oil Service & Inspection or oil Service & Inspection with Supplementary Scope" for cars over three years old. It says most of its cars are on fixed servicing "at 9,300 miles or 12 months", while a car on flexible servicing tells you through its service light. Halfords draws the same line from the other side: its manufacturer servicing "follows the exact schedule set by your vehicle's maker".
So work from the schedule. See what's due at this age and mileage (oil, filters, brake fluid, plugs, the cambelt), pick the package that covers it, and ask for anything outside it by name, with a price. If only the oil and filter are due, the dearest tier isn't the right answer, however thorough it sounds.
Keep the record straight too. Volkswagen stopped issuing paper service books in May 2017 and keeps its service records digitally. It says an independent repairer can add to that record free of charge but can print only what it entered, not the whole history. A record that just says the car was serviced tells the next buyer nothing, so make sure yours names what was replaced.
When you know what's due, look for garages that service to your maker's schedule.
How to check a service quote before you say yes
A quote is only comparable when you know three things: what it replaces, whether VAT is in it, and what might be added once the car is in. Six questions cover all three. A good garage will answer every one without blinking. Ask them when you book, not at the counter when you collect the keys.
- Which parts will you replace for that price, and can I see the list? Hold the answer against what your handbook says is due.
- Does the price include VAT? If it doesn't, add 20% before you compare it with anyone else's.
- Which oil specification will you use, and will you write it on the invoice? Check it against the oil specification your car asks for.
- Is my brake fluid due, and what does a change cost if it is? Kwik Fit's flat £52.95 gives you a benchmark.
- Are spark plugs or a fuel filter due at my mileage, and what will they cost? Get the price now, so it can't turn up later as a surprise.
- Will the service go in my service book or the maker's digital record? Ask for an invoice that names each part replaced.
And if the bill still comes in higher than agreed, our complaints guide takes you through what to do next.
Your next step is a short one. Open the handbook, write down what's due at this age and mileage, and take that list and the six questions to a garage for your full or major service. Ask two or three garages the same things. For once you'll be comparing the same job, and the answer to how much a car service costs will be your car's price, not a chain's starting figure.
Car service prices: your questions answered
Does a full service include spark plugs?
None of the packages compared here lists spark plugs as included. Kwik Fit says so outright, National charges extra when they're due, and Halfords doesn't list them in any package. If your car has spark plugs, check its handbook to see when they're due. If they are, ask for the price before the car goes in.
Does a major service include brake fluid and the cambelt?
Brake fluid, yes, at Halfords and National, which both change it in a major. Kwik Fit sells no major, and charges £52.95 to change the fluid on its own. The cambelt, no. National checks the belt's replacement interval and reports if it's due, but the belt itself is a separate and much bigger job. Start by finding out whether your car has a cambelt at all.
Do garages charge VAT on labour?
Yes, if they're VAT-registered. VAT at 20% applies to labour and parts alike. A garage has to register if its taxable turnover passes £90,000 over 12 months or it expects to pass £90,000 in the next 30 days. A small independent below those tests may not charge VAT at all, although some register anyway. Ask whether a quote includes VAT, and compare totals, not headline prices.
How much is a full service and MOT together?
At National, £314.84 to £384.84 depending on engine size, which means the MOT adds £34.85 to the full service. Kwik Fit's bundle runs from £281.95 to £346.95. On its own, a car's MOT can cost no more than £54.85, and there's no VAT on the MOT fee. In Northern Ireland you book the MOT with the DVA, and the test happens at one of its own centres, not at the garage.
Is a car service a legal requirement in the UK?
No. The MOT is the legal test, and a service is maintenance. In England, Scotland and Wales most cars need their first MOT by the third anniversary of registration, then one every year. Skipping a service isn't an offence, but it leaves gaps in the service history and in the maker's schedule. A car under a manufacturer's warranty or on finance may have servicing conditions in its paperwork, so check those first.
Do I need a full service every year?
Only if your handbook says so. Halfords and Kwik Fit both pitch the full as a yearly service, which suits plenty of cars but not all of them. Volkswagen's fixed schedule, for example, runs to 9,300 miles or 12 months, while its cars on flexible servicing tell you through the service light. Book what the schedule calls for at this age and mileage, not the tier with the most checks.