Making Regular Checks to Your Vehicle

Carrying out regular checks on your vehicle ensures safer journeys and reduces the chances of unwanted costly repairs. But what should you be looking for? We have comprised a list of 6 essential yet easy maintenance checks you can be doing.

1. Engine oil – We recommend checking the engine oil level in your vehicle every 2 weeks or before every long journey you plan to take.

It is worth knowing that standing on a sloped surface can give you an inaccurate reading, please be sure to take the measurement on even ground. Ensure that you clean the dipstick before reinserting to check the oil level. If your oil needs topping up, make sure you use the correct oil type otherwise this could end up costly!

2. Water Levels – Overheating is very often the reason for vehicle breakdowns and the best way to avoid this is to make sure your water levels are correct.

Check that the coolant level is between the min and max lines – only do this once your engine is cold. Before topping up make sure to check that there are no leaks.

3. Lights – Checking your lights is something that usually goes a miss in terms of vehicle maintenance. Especially coming into the darker months, it is good to be checking all the lights on your vehicle including headlights, indicators, brake lights and fog lights regularly.

4. Screen wash – By law your screen wash system must work, therefore ensuring your screen wash is topped up is best practice.

5. Windscreen – Chips can happen from time to time, if you discover one on your windscreen make sure to get it repaired as soon as possible. This can result in a much heftier repair if the crack ends up getting larger, be proactive to avoid replacing the entire windscreen.

6. Tyres – Your tyres should be checked regularly for wear; you also need to ensure that the tyre pressure is in line with manufacturer’s guidelines. Typically, this is found inside of the vehicle by the driver or the passenger seat when you open the door.

The legal limit of tread on your tyre should not go below 1.6mm, however it is recommended that you consider changing your tyres at 3mm, so you stay as safe as possible on the road.

Mainting good upkeep of your vehicle is crucial to keeping you safe on the road, be sure to contact us if you have any questions regarding the maintanance of your vehicle or any that you are interested in.