Car Checks You Can Carry Out to Get Back on the Road
It’s highly likely that you haven’t been driving your car that much recently. If you have then you have likely been keeping an eye on the condition of your vehicle. As discussed in our previous article – garages are available to provide servicing and other car services should you require this. However – if your car has not been on the road or you haven’t been using your car as much as you would like – there are some things that you should be checking on for preparation to get back on the road.
This article is a one-stop guide for all of the issues that could go wrong with your vehicle. Whether you have not been using your vehicle or you want to be safer rather than sorry – this guide will hopefully help you protect your car and protect yourself from any nasty surprises once your vehicle stops running again. Vehicles may also be at risk because if they are not in use – some issues can crop up which you will not know about until you start using your car again fully.
Research from the RAC suggests that 1 in 10 motorists have stopped using their car all-together. This is a massive amount of people so these checks are vital in ensuring that your car is in good condition and ready for the road. If you are using your vehicle – at least you will have some tips to use when your vehicle is not in use in the future!
Know a tip that we didn’t cover in this article? Why not leave a comment on this article or get in touch today. We would be more than happy to discuss your requirements as well as discuss how you can carry out checks from home.
Battery Woes
We’ve all been there or know somebody who has had the horror of a flat battery. This unseen menace can hit at any time – whether lights have accidentally been left on overnight or a battery had an underlying issue or has suffered from wear and tear. Inactive vehicles pose a big flat battery risk. This is because of the fact that batteries are charged whilst your vehicle is in use so they could drop to a power rate that is too low to start your car – leading you with frustration as you are unable to get to your desired destination. Some of the major reasons that a battery may not work are as follows:
- The battery is old. Inactive use of a car can cause damage to the battery over time which leaves older batteries, especially at risk during recent times. It’s important to bear in mind that even newer batteries can suffer from this type of issue although you would expect it to be a rarer occurrence.
- The battery is too low and hasn’t had the chance to power back up. Again recent events make this a more common problem than this time last year (with a reported double in recoveries due to batteries not starting by the RAC in April compared to last year.)
- The battery has been drained by electrical equipment in the car. Lights being left on or other electrics being used overnight can cause rapid battery loss depending on the gadget or feature.
Fun Fact – If you were ever curious – it would take driving around 30 minutes on the motorway to fully charge a car battery at 1,000 RPM. That’s a lot for a battery but understandable considering their size.
Tyre Checks
We have written an entire article dedicated to checking your tyres. This article is designed to ensure that you can keep safe on the road and carry out various checks that you can do at home.
Checks Before Getting Back to Business
Fingers crossed the uncertainty will be all over soon and we will return to some form of normality (we will update this article series once this has occurred to discuss getting back on the road.) There are various safety checks that you can carry out and they are in essence the checks that you can do at home that are checking in your MOT test. Granted you will not be able to carry out some of the checks that are carried out at the testing centre but there are some checks that you can carry out from the visual inspection parts of the test that will keep things safe when you are on the road.
- Lights are extremely important. It’s unlikely you have been doing much night driving unless you have been working at night. If you travel on your first night journey after a long period of time and find out that your lights aren’t working – this can be highly dangerous. Schedule a night to turn on the engine and test all lights accordingly.
- Check oil levels. Again this is a check that you can carry out at home and can protect your engine if oil is running low. This is a great check to get in the schedule of doing. Simply dip your dipstick into the oil, pull out the stick and make a note of how high the oil has appeared on the stick. If it’s low you will need to top up the oil. Get in touch if you need advice on what oil to use or we can top up your oil during servicing or refer to your vehicle manual.
- Double-check engine coolant levels – you shouldn’t have to top this up but it’s still an important check as it protects your engine. Make sure to check with a cold engine and if you do need to top up your coolant – your vehicle manual will have more information on which coolant to use.
- Screenwash might seem a no-brainer but did you know that you can fail your MOT if your screenwash isn’t topped up? Screenwash is very important as if something falls on your windscreen and obstructs your vision – you will need to clean it off. This can be very dangerous if something did happen so make sure it’s topped up again!
- Check for chips and cracks in the windscreen. Although little chips may not seem like a big issue now – the Summer and Winter months will do some small repetitive damage to the chip. The chip then increases in size until the windscreen can crack. It’s best to get chips checked before they become a bigger problem.
- Air conditioning is a check that can easily be ignored until the Summer or Winter hits and you cannot get access to wonderful cold or hot air. There’s nothing worse than getting into a car on a scorching day and your A/C blowing hot air at you so it’s important to do reverse tests in the Winter and Summer. In the Winter – blast the cold air and in Summer – blast the warm – it could save you an unpleasant experience.
We are more than happy to advise you should you need specific help regarding checks that you can carry out for your vehicle. We are also more than happy to take a look at your vehicle should you deem that an issue needs to be looked at or you are unsure. It never hurts to have a professional team look at your vehicle should you have any doubts! We are one of the leading providers of tyres in Newport & tyres in Cwmbran and are more than happy to help you find the perfect tyres to suit you.
Know a tip that we didn’t cover in this article? Why not leave a comment on this article or get in touch today. We would be more than happy to discuss your requirements as well as discuss how you can carry out checks from home.
