Cars are getting bigger. Spaces are getting smaller. Car parks are overcrowded. Parking a car can be a nightmare, especially at 3.30pm on a Sunday afternoon, when everybody’s popping out to grab some bread, milk or a bottle of wine that they’ve forgotten. In the past, we’ve discussed what steps you need to take if you are involved in a car park accident… But as prevention is better than cure, how can you avoid one?
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You know oil is essential for your car. It’s right up there with water and coolant. And getting your oil management wrong can be fatal to various parts of the engine. If you leave it too long, then you could be looking at all manner of problems from early fatigue to at worst, total engine failure. However, as with many things in life, if you’re relying on anecdotal information from friends and family, without mechanical experience, you could come a real cropper.
Fortunately, the team at BreakerLink has put our heads together, and come up with a quick breakdown (see what we did there) of what’s right, and what’s not so right, about some of the common oil myths you might hear doing the rounds.
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Man’s best friend. Dogs equal great walks in the countryside. And they can travel in the back of the car. Of course, if you’re a long time follower of our blog, you’ll know we love our animals and have given you advice in the past about protecting both you and your hound in transit. But with muddy feet, smelly dogs and even water finding their way into your car, after a good romp out down a National trust park or at the beach – how can you better protect the other essential best friend in your life – your vehicle?
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Give people space. Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule. And have you seen how much braking distances are impacted by the wet, snow and ice? Doesn’t matter. People still love to tailgate.
However much of a rush you might be in, this is annoying at best, and at worst, downright dangerous. And could lead to a severe crash if someone has to brake suddenly. So what’s the safest and most sane way to deal with tailgating drivers?
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Like death and taxes, car insurance seems somewhat inevitable. You want to drive on UK roads? You must be covered by some kind of acceptable policy. But perhaps because you must have insurance, there is a lot of chit chat that goes around pubs, dinner tables and other social meeting places, which discusses the potential intricacies of costs, policies and covers.
If you’re one of those people who’ve whipped out your phone or powered up your computer to check on some rumours you’ve heard – then you’ve arrived in the right place. Let’s go through some of the most popular assertions and fact check them to see if they’re the real deal, or just some old fake news.
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You’ve been hit, and you know it wasn’t your fault. Once you’ve shaken yourself down and regained your composure, you speak to the driver of the other vehicle. Then you discover they don’t have any insurance or you get the details, only to find it’s a made up policy, or an older one that’s already expired.
Or worse still, the offending vehicle simply pulls off and drives away. The dreaded hit and run incident. Not only bad from a legal standpoint, but a truly callous act if someone has been hurt and injured. Fortunately there have been laws and organisations in place to protect you from uninsured drivers – but what are the practical steps you need to take should such a situation arise?
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You never realise you’ve lost your car keys, until you need to use your car. And this is often the most inconvenient moment to realise this small, but essential bit of kit has either gone walkies or been stolen. Your partner may have a spare set, but this won’t resolve your peace of mind, if you think they’ve been taken by a nefarious third party – or you might have to get on the phone to a locksmith.
Worse still, if you’re out in the middle of nowhere, or about to embark on the return journey home, you may have less options available to resolve the issue. What should you do if you lose your car keys, and is there any way you could potentially make the moment less awful if it happens?
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Your breakdown survival kit. We’ve touched on this in previous blogs, however it’s such an important thing to have in the back of your vehicle, we decided to go into more detail. Many people like to check their car regularly for underlying faults and issues, and take their vehicle for periodic services. However, unfortunately no matter of forethought can stop a breakdown from happening regardless of the season.
No one wants to be in a breakdown, but sometimes it inevitably happens to the best of us. In such an event an in-car survival kit will be a godsend. So what should you put in your kit?
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The winter is hard on all of us. Reduced energy. Less happiness. And of course you may find you’re using your car less frequently than in the warm months. If you’re considering putting it into storage, then you’ll need to do it properly to avoid issues with fuel, batteries and even paintwork, and this is especially true in winter when snow can damage the car.
So whether your ride is a convenient car or a collectable classic, use the following tips to keep it fresh over the colder months, when it’s not being used…
Apart from stating the obvious, there are a number of factors that increase a car door’s propensity to get frozen. Corroded locks and deteriorating window seals can let water into the door and around the frame, as snow melts in the evening, which then turns into hard ice at night, that unfortunately fits exactly into the gaps in the vehicle.
Inevitably, your car’s exposure to the winter weather can also be a predominant factor. Leave it out in the worst position, and you’re more likely to experience frozen doors than if you cover it, or leave it under a tree, where the wind chill factor isn’t going to be such a problem.
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