As a person who bought a car with a poor service history, and have done as much servicing myself as is possible, this is a question of the car being fragile and sensitive to certain problems. Yes anyone or any garage can do an oil change and change the drive belt, and as Beau says none of the basic service jobs are much harder than any other car. However what I would say is that having owned the car for 8 years now, the things I am checking on a regular basis now, are much more than when i started. These cars have a catalogue of issues which if left unchecked will become a monster problem and indeed i reckon many of the cars written off have simply been poorly maintained.
So while yes you will be able to get basic servicing done, beware, the specialist should be looking at a large range of things, if they know these cars. Having said that i have also had cars into main dealers who have done a terrible job and basically done the least they could get away with to keep their profits up. So while you are hoping the repair bills will be cheap and you can just run it, to have a car you will enjoy and that will run well and handle well it will need some TLC.
I only really started getting reliable running after 3 years of repairs, most of which should have been done many years earlier and were not by the previous owner, who neglected the car, and only had basic servicing done and sold it when it got problematic, and yes i got it cheap. The sort of things i am talking about, are flakey wiring problems, suspension ball joints, gaitors, bushes, shocks and shock control motors, plenum cover, starter problems, window switches, external temp sensor, knock sensors, steering geometry, recalibration of pedal sensor, TB problems, rear light problems, boot lid leaks, brakes esp handbrake, AC problems and fluids all of them not just the ones in the book. The car is fragile and in 10 years all of these things will need work, some several times, so regular repairs can cost.
The good news is The engine and gearbox (mine is an Auto) are tough as old boots, although i have had to replace both the turbo's. The diff and rear drive train also seems fairly robust. The body if you look after it is not bad either, although you will probably have body shop work done as it is a car that needs to look tidy, i think. Not trying to scare you here, just getting you to think in the right frame for this car!
