Our Vehicle Maintenance Guide
Vehicle maintenance is an essential aspect of owning a vehicle. It’s important when you are carrying out checks on your vehicle that you know exactly what you need to look out for – especially when looking at vital aspects of your vehicle such as the engine or tyres. With the vast amount of information and instructions that are available both off and online – it can be hard to find a concise piece of information that covers everything that you need to consider when thinking about the maintenance of your vehicle.
This is why we have written our comprehensive vehicle maintenance guide. This guide covers all of the major considerations that you will need to make when maintaining your vehicle covering all of the areas that you will need to consider when looking after your vehicle. Any tips that didn’t make our list? Let us know in the comments below!
Creating a Car Maintenance Schedule
Creating a schedule is a great way to ensure that you are carrying out a range of car maintenance activities. This is because of the fact that a clear schedule allows you to assign time to check on your vehicle and to ensure that everything is as it should be. This can also help you to catch major potential issues earlier – which allows you to keep on top of the condition of your vehicle and reduces the risk of any expensive and nasty surprises at the garage.
Creating a schedule such as checking on your vehicle on the weekend, before long journeys and by arranging for regular servicing is the best way to keep on top of the health of your vehicle. As there are a number of issues that are impossible to detect from just a visual inspection – you will also want to keep an eye (and ear out) for any strange noises or other indicators when your vehicle is on the road as this can also be an early indicator of major issues.
Visiting a Car Garage if You Are Unsure
Before we continue with the multiple checks that you can carry out on your vehicle – it’s of the utmost importance to highlight that if you are really unsure about the condition of your vehicle – it’s always recommended to visit a garage. A specialised garage is ideally suited to take a look at your vehicle and ensure that everything is as it should when you are facing issues where you cannot quite put your finger on what is wrong.
Regular servicing is also highly important as there are some issues that are just impossible to diagnose through visual inspection without a specialist. Not only does regular servicing give you peace of mind that your vehicle is working correctly – it can also save you money in the long run as you will be able to detect costly issues before they become worse. Servicing also reduces running costs by making your vehicle more efficient as well as fuel efficient. With your yearly MOT and at least one service a year – this can help your vehicle when on the road.
Starting Your Maintenance – A Once Over Check of Your Vehicle
A once over of your vehicle is really important – especially when going on long journeys or when carrying out a general check of your vehicle. We have detailed checks that you can carry out before a long journey as well as checks that you can regularly undertake below:
When preparing your car, SUV or van before a long journey, ensure that you check the following:
- Ensure that tyre pressure is to the correct level and also ensure that this is correct to the amount of luggage that is in your vehicle. Most vehicle handbooks will have the ideal tyre pressure levels as per the amount of passengers and luggage are in your vehicle.
- Ensure that you check your tyres for damage such as embedded foreign objects, punctures or visible damage. This could become a problem quickly if you are travelling a long distance and have luggage in your vehicle.
- Ensure that you have all of the supplies that you need in-case anything goes wrong. Ensure to carry out a visual inspection of your spare tyre if you have one in your vehicle and ensure that you have all of the relevant safety equipment in your boot where
possible.
Regular checks of your vehicle may contain the following checks:
- Carry out regular visual inspections of your tyres is highly important. This is similar to carrying out inspections when going on a long journey and includes checking your tyres for embedded foreign objects such as nails or glass as well as checking the tyre pressure of your tyres and carrying out visual inspections for any damage. Taking measurements of tyre pressure is also really important as this can indicate deflation or a potential slow puncture or puncture.
- Check the oil levels of your vehicle using your engine dipstick. The oil levels of your engine shouldn’t go down dramatically so if you require that you need to refill engine oil often – this could be indicative of a wider issue.
- Check under the hood regularly and check the engine is running as intended. As your engine is the most expensive part of your vehicle – it’s important to keep on top of checking your engine is running correctly and that there are no issues such as strange noises coming from your engine.
Take Control of Your Vehicle Maintenance
You can actively make changes to your current schedule today to ensure that you are getting on top of the maintenance of your vehicle. Utilising our vehicle maintenance guide – you are able to carry out all of the major checks that you may need to carry out when inspecting your vehicle.
We have garages in Newport, and our newest addition, Pontypool. Our whole business is run by our family, so the pressure is always on to be perfect! We offer high-quality tyres such as our tyres in Newport & tyres in Cwmbran
Should you require further assistance regarding the maintenance of your vehicle – get in touch with a local garage as this is highly important.