Why you shouldn't service your jetski in summer

Here's FIVE big reasons to do winter servicing that you might not have considered if you normally get your jetski serviced in Oct/Nov/Dec "so it's ready for summer".

Dispite our best efforts in strict booking schedules, sometimes the summer chaos is out of our control with parts delays and unexpected issues.

Recently I had one of my personal vehicles serviced at a workshop who was a dealer for the brand and they seemed very busy (all good signs normally right 😏). When I 'booked' my first service I was told I could drop off any time. After they had had it for a couple of weeks, I got in touch to see what was happening and I was told it would be ready the next day.

There were a couple of reasonably major issues once I had picked up my vehicle. The main one; it didn't make it home. What I have concluded from this experience, was that the mechanic was so busy and had no organisation systems in place, so the service wasn't even started after 2 weeks and was done the day after my phone call in a rush to get it done. That self-inflicted 'rush' resulted in a few things that ultimately turned into a disaster for me on the drive home.

In our business, we are super strict about booking appointments, workshop and mobile. There is no "just drop it off". It's a booking for a particular day at a set time. My unfortunate experience mentioned above has highlighted to me why this is important for both parties;

There needs to be a set amount of time allocated for the job, with the least amount of interruptions possible. Not just a long queue which puts pressure on the mechanic to reach pickup deadlines, instead of taking the time to look at the big picture, which is the overall health of the jetski and potential future issues.

Waiting until peak season to service your jetski is similar to the above scenario; You've waited until the busiest time of year and got in the queue for your jetski service.

We've gathered plenty of methods over the last 20 years to mitagate that pre-summer chaos, but it is still the busiest time of year and the pressure is always on in a big way, no matter how organised we try to be. Although it has been a few years since my last November-Melt-Down 🤪🥴

The least ideal time of year to have your jetski looked at is naturally when this kind of pressure is on your mechanic just to keep on top of the workload.

The second reason to re-think your pre-season service is to do with parts availability in NZ.

It isn't uncommon to find a small issue during a service which needs a part replacement, only to find there isn't stock in NZ or Australia, and the next option is anywhere from 2 to 12 weeks away depending on world wide supply shortages, shipping issues, World War III... etc. You know the drill.

This issue has resulted in many a missed Christmas holiday over the years. And it just wouldn't have mattered if it were June. Why risk missing the prime summer riding weather when it could be so easily avoided by winter servicing?

Part of our decades of experience has also lead us to advising people to avoid servicing in December at all.

Those last 3 weeks before Christmas shouldn't be considered at all for 'normal annual maintenance'. That is the time for unexpected urgent repairs only. If your annual service is due in December, push it out a few weeks to January. It isn't going to make any difference.

If you are one of those people who put your jetski in the garage in March, only to ignore it until the week you are going away on the 24th of December.. Don't do that. You should have checked over your jetski a few weeks prior, given it a run ideally, or at least run it up on the hose for a few minutes.

Why pay full price when you can get a discount?

We started an Off Season Special years ago to encourage our clients to consider winter servicing, and it's very popular. Most dealers offer a servicing deal in winter for the same reason. So why not save a few bucks?

Your battery needs attention over winter. Having a reliable charging set up if key to making it simple.

Winter is hard on your jetski parts. So it is the perfect time to get it in for service, get fresh oil, check for any gremlins and decide what you are going to do with the fuel and battery in the off season. Your battery needs attention over winter, so it's good to set that up so it makes it through to the sunny season with no issue.

At the time of service, we like to offer verbal advise for best battery charging set up and monthly tasks, based on your winter riding frequency and storage situation.

That's it! So now I ask you; why are you waiting until Spring to service your jetski? 🤔

Let me know if you have other reasons. Sometimes it's good to hear another POV. 🩷

~ Cathie G.