Do you know when your car’s next service is due? | Consumer Hacks with Wendy Knowler

Do you know when your car’s next service is due?

Do you know when your car’s next service is due? If you miss it, and your car’s still under warranty, that warranty could be cancelled as a result. 

Car’s next service
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Service intervals are stipulated in terms of time (every 12 months) OR mileage (every 15,000km) — whichever comes first. So if you drive a lot, you may have to service your car more than once a year. And if you don’t drive much, you are still compelled to service your car at least every 12 months, regardless of your low mileage.

2. Got a beef with your broker? Read on… 

For the past 20 years, the most compensation the office of the FAIS Ombud could award as compensation to those whose insurance brokers were found to have failed them in some way was R800,000. That compromised the effectiveness of the Ombud and restricted consumers’ access to this free, independent alternative dispute resolution. From July 2024 though, that’s shot up to R3,5 million which is more in line with the compensation that other financial sector ombud schemes can award consumers. 

3. Shrinking mushroom packs 

Packs of Denny mushrooms have shrunk from 250g to 200g - that’s a whopping 20% less. Curiously, instead of altering the mushroom recipes they share online, to be in proportion with 20% less of the main ingredient, Denny has chosen to keep all the ingredients the same, changing only “1 250g punnet of mushrooms” to “1 punnet”.  So for that and “value for money” reasons, you may want to look out for mushrooms which still come in a 250g pack. Such as the Pick n Pay brand. 

4. FNB’s R1 bread deal - there’s a problem 

In June, FNB announced that customers who have the bank’s entry-level Easy PAYU account could from this month buy four loaves of brown bread a month for just R1 each. But - oops! - the bank has now said there’ve been “operational delays” with that roll-out. So, until they get their R1 bread ducks in a row, Easy PAYU account holders will be given a R15 weekly voucher to use to purchase any bread at any Shoprite when they swipe their FNB Easy card.  

5. Buying a fridge? Are the cheaper self-defrost ones worth the saving? 

You’ll pay about R4,000 less for a so-called “static fridge” than you will for a frost-free fridge but know that the saving comes at the cost of the schlep of manual defrosting every three months or so - more often if the fridge is exposed to direct sunlight. Game tells me that about 80% of the fridges it sells are static ones, due to the price factor.  But it’s not the best option for older and less physically active folk.

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