Earlier this year I tried a new Renault dealership. They rang me in the middle of a service and told me that Renault recommended replacing brake fluid every 3 years and quoted a separate price for this to that for replacing the brake pads. After telling them to go ahead I found that the car handbook recommended replacing the brake fluid every 4 years.

I rang National Renault to see if their policy had changed and, after giving me 3 different reasons why they had recommended replacing my fluid, they gave me my money back. Later this year my Peugeot Boxer van was in for a service with a different garage and in the middle they rang me and recommended that the brake fluid be replaced. On this occasion I declined. However it did make me wonder whether these recommendations are necessary or is it just a way of garages increasing their profits at a service? Years ago we never seemed to replace brake fluid very often.