For many, your car is an essential part of a your life, yet we understand car maintenance is not always the top of your mind! Here are 3 basic checks you should do to prevent a scare on the road this halloween, not to mention avoiding hefty fines, enhancing performance and reducing repair costs.
1. Strong and stable tyres
Ensure your tyre tread is over 1.6mm to avoid fines and points on your licence. We recommend slotting the rim of a 20p coin (1.8mm thick) between the groves to rest assured your tyres are road legal. Watch video
Keeping your tyre pressure in line with your manual guidelines will reduce the amount you spend on fuel and avoid uneven wear and steering issues. If you don't, you may end up replacing your tyres at different times, ending up with different brand tyres, compounding the issue.
2. A full set of lights
While easily missed from inside your car, you’re legally required to have fully functioning indicators, reverse and brake lights and dipped beams. Avoid fines or points on your licence by fixing faulty lights.
3. A clear windscreen
Ever had your car washed and the front window is streaky after just a couple days? While it's important to fix windscreen chips ASAP and keep your screen wash topped up, the most overlooked problem is dirty windscreen wipers; replace these for a clear view.
Modern vehicles now have sophisticated sensors and warning systems to let you know when something needs your attention, and having your car manual to hand when one of these flashes will be the answer to all your problems.
You should always keep your car clean and sometimes if your windscreen is too dirty you'll need a car wash to get it back to it's squeaky clean look.
Find out: How often should you wash your car?
Fixing the faults
When you realise something isn’t right, you can either fix it yourself, or have it fixed at the the local garage.
Tyre pressure can be inflated at most petrol stations, whilst topping up engine oil, antifreeze and screen wash can easily be done yourself by picking up supplies from your local store such as Halfords.
If, like us, you love convenience then no fret, our recommended partner Fixter can take your car to the best local garage, with free collection and delivery. You can now get 10% off your first service with our code FIXIT10.
To keep tabs on your car’s health take a look at the app AutoCare. It’s a colourful little app that records your fuel and service records, and generates a maintenance schedule. Super simple to use, syncs with iCloud and it's the cheapest car care app out there.
Wash Doctors will be reviewing of some of our other favourite hassle-free household apps, coming soon.