When it comes to finding a garage to carry out any repairs or servicing etc to your vehicle, you need to find one that is reliable and one you can trust. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to use a garage that we have had no previous dealings with due to a breakdown for example. This is not ideal but if you find yourself in this situation, you need to have an idea of what you are talking about to ensure that you receive a good deal. People that take cars into garages and say they have no idea what is wrong and could they fix it are asking for trouble. If you go to the mechanic and say that you have experienced an issue with the vehicle and detail what has...

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From time to time, it is very important to give your car a once over. On a daily or weekly basis you should be checking the fluid levels, tyre condition and tyre pressure but ideally once month or so you should have a really good look around the car. Look for any damage to parts body or mechanical that you had not noticed. If it has damaged the paintwork, then you may need to get it fixed to avoid rusting. Also, check that it has not done any mechanical damage, for example, if there is a kerbed alloy wheel. Take a look under the car, it is very easy to miss corroded brackets causing your exhaust to hang low or heat shields that are barely hanging on. Often if you...

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If you own an older car then there may come a time when the cost of the repairs outweigh the value of the car. If this is the case then you have to make the choice as to if you want to risk spending the money on it and hope that it will last you for another few years or whether you cut your losses and start again. If you can only afford to buy another cheap car, less than £1500 then you may find that the types of vehicles that you can buy within your budget will need work doing anyway, or may not last very long. This is often a cycle that may people get into and it can be hard to get out of it. If possibly...

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MOT’s can be scary for many car owners as they may not know what work is required until they have the MOT done. From the initially £40 approx. for the MOT test, the final bill can often go up by hundreds on cars requiring quite a bit of work to get it to pass. There are a few things that you can do to try and keep your MOT costs as low as possible. Firstly try and find a garage that you trust. Although the MOT test is very strict, unfortunately there are same garages that will take advantage of a test and quote for work that does not really need doing. When carrying out some recent online research I was surprised to find that many garages offer a MOT...

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Brakes are a vital part of a cars safety system and a fault in your brakes can cause you to have a serious accident. You are advised to test your brakes when you go on any car journey, simply by pressing the pedal down when going at a slow speed to ensure you stop. Many cars have warning lights that will illuminate on the dash when your brake pads are low, but you shouldn’t rely on this totally as the sensor may be faulty or the dash not working correctly. Your brakes will be tested on an MOT inspection but your pads and or disc may need changing sooner than this. When you have brake pads changed they will also inspect your discs to let you know if they also...

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