WHEN WILL MY BRAKES NEED ATTENTION? HOW WILL I KNOW WHEN THEY NEED REPLACING ?.
Most modern cars have brake wear sensors fitted to the vechile these will light up a warning lamp on your dashboard to let you know. Quite a few older cars do not have these and therefore the best way is to have them routinely inspected by your favoured garage, again if you are unsure of what you are being told try somewhere else. The obvious signs of something is wrong are a grinding noise, squealing, or juddering from the steering wheel when applying the brakes.

Replacement of your brakes is one of the biggest grey areas we have. The correct course of action is to measure the disc’s using a micrometer, this provides the thickness of the remaining metal on the disc, we then look up your car in a directory called Auto data ( pc form or book ) which provides the minimum allowed wear before fitting new brake pads. If there is too little metal we need to replace the discs as well as the pads. For brake pads the thickness new depends on the car , but generally they measure between 12-14mm.How long they last depends on your driving and what type of driving the car does, it figures lots of motorway driving will extend their life. BMW genuine pads usually last between 25-35,000 miles, some cheap pads will only last 10,000 miles, SO PRICE rears its head again, you make the choice pay a little last a little!!.

DOES MY CAR NEED SERVICING EVERY YEAR?,I ONLY DO A FEW THOUSAND MILES A YEAR.
Most cars need servicing on an annual basis, or every 10,000 miles typically. Some cars have a long life 2 year or up to 20,000 miles between servicing  but have a higher servicing cost. You will need to check your service book to be sure what is required for your car if in doubt ask. All cars benefit from being serviced, fresh oil keeps things running sweet so as a minimum  do an annual oil change. If a car is not used very much then this likely to lead to more problems, and it is even more important to service the car. The oil generally degrades and becomes gummed up and we usually recommend an engine flush to remove the debris/gunge that builds up. Whilst as a low mileage user the benefit will be that you probably only need to change your air and pollen filters at longer intervals than normal. We offer a full service to include all filters and plugs for only £130.00 plus vat*. In the light of the cost perhaps changing all of the items is a viable propersition. However a oil and filter change is usually only £45.00 plus vat* if required. (* oil grade dependant some oils will cost more please ask)

I HAVE A WARNING LIGHT ON MY DASH THAT STAYS ON WHAT SHOULD I DO ?.
Most cars now have various lights to warn you if there is a fault. Some lights duplicate faults so it is not always clear what is wrong with the car. If a light appears then first consult your car manual, but if you are unsure then it is best to get it looked at asap, you may be doing harm to the car by driving it and this can prove costly. You will normally be charged to diagnose a fault, please remember that it does involve someone’s time to look at it and the cost of the equipment involved required to do so is not cheap to run. Typically this cost is £40.00 but a main dealer will charge you up to £100 to give you the same answer. However some time they are the only people that can look at it, if we cannot diagnose the fault we do not charge, and will refer you to someone who can.

I HAVE MANUFACTURES WARRANTY ON MY CAR DO I HAVE TO HAVE IT SERVICED BY A MAIN DEALER OR CAN I USE SOMEONE ELSE?
The Block Exemption ruling introduced in law stopped all manufacturers from saying they were the only people allowed to carry out your service to keep your warranty valid. Prior to this you would have been warned it was fatal to take it outside the network and been warned of impending doom on the value of the car when you come to trade the car in. In some cases like BMW this was true for a start the BMW dealers could not resell your car as an approved used car unless it had impeccable service history. This actually is still true with a little give you could have one service out of line and still qualify. The impact on the value of the car on a trade in was huge, so it pays sometimes to keep in mind at what miles and age you intend to dispose of the car. This follows that main agents will only sell a car up to a certain mileage, usually 50/60,000 miles and 4/5 yrs old. If you fall outside this then it does not matter anyway, most used car sites are just looking for proof of any type of service.

So the short answer is yes you can service the car where you want, you only need to prove that the correct service was carried out, we go as far as to say only fit genuine parts and keep the receipt as proof. Savings over the main dealer prices are quite large for what is the same job, so the choice is yours. An example as off 30/03/2009 a VW Golf 1.6 5dr 2008 model oil service is £119.78, the same service here is £50.00.

MY MOT HAS RUN OUT AND HAVE JUST REALISED WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Let’s hope this does not happen, as driving without an MOT is illegal and invalidates your insurance in most cases. Apart from the risk of losing your car to the police, the inevitable fines and points on your license could be very costly to you, especially the higher insurance premiums. Most people simply just overlook this,(the police do not accept that by the way) and a few garages remind their clients  but it usually falls on you the owner to ensure you have one. SO you are not allowed to drive the car and you should book an MOT appointment now. You are allowed to drive the car to the appointment only, if you get stopped you need to give the police the garages number so they can verify the booking otherwise they will fine you there and then. We will try to sort your MOT out on the day but promise a 24hr test, so no matter what is going on we will test your car within 24 hrs of receiving it.

I WORK LONG HOURS/ DIFFICULT HOURS HOW DO I GET MY SERVICE DONE BY YOU?.
We are very flexible you can leave your car with us for a few days if necessary, we work 6 days a week but try to work around you. If you have a window of only 2 hours then we can do your service during that time. We have a public house over the road where you could have something to eat combining lunch with the service or hold a necessary meeting. We offer a very limited loan car service so you can borrow one of our cars during the day. Saturday servicing and mot’s are available, you can even drop of your car the previous evening if this makes it easier for travel arrangements for the next day. Best just to ring us and we can work around you.

I HAVE BEEN ADVISED I NEED TO CHANGE MY BRAKE FLUID AND ANTIFREEZE EVERY 2 YEARS WHY IS THAT?
This is a contradiction really, it is the opinion of the manufacturers that this should happen. I would suggest that it is a protection mechanism of the manufacturers as by recommending it, anything that can be linked that goes wrong or any liability can be dismissed if you have not done the changes( both have a big impact on the major parts of the car). Facts are that the antifreeze and brake fluid’s ability to protect the cars engine and braking system will diminish as it ages. Most things wear out so it is no surprise that that this also requires renewal. It seems absurd but we use RED antifreeze which has a life span of 5 years, but you supposed to change it at 2 years. Draw your own conclusion ,perhaps it is another source of income for the main dealers as the modern car requires very little maintenance these days. The brake fluid over time absorbs water turning it milky and hence affects the ability to do its job. Our advice would be to protect yourself you should do it . We charge £45.00 each to change them some main dealers are as high as £120.00.

MY AIR CONDITIONING DOES NOT SEEM AS COLD AS IT WAS WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?.
Car a/c systems lose their gas over a period of time and most will require attention by the time they are 3 or 4 yrs old. Worst case they get a leak and will require repair prior to re-gassing. A standard re-gas takes about 1 hr and all being well you can expect the cost to be between £60-100.

WHAT CHECKS SHOULD I DO WEEKLY TO LOOK AFTER MY CAR?.
If you think something is wrong with your car go get it checked out by a couple of garages, remember that it is better to be safe than sorry. If you can check you oil, tyre pressures water bottles and a general look around the car every week it should pre-warn you of any possible problems starting, especially check your tyres.

CAN I PUT ANY TYPE OF OIL IN MY CAR THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF CHOICE?.
Be careful here you should never mix oils in a car and it is not a case of driving to Halfords and buying some Castrol GTX!! It is best to check with the dealer or US, we have records of the correct oil to use. If you are unsure what is in the car when you bought it I would recommend an oil and filter change to ensure the correct rating in some cases using thick oil in a car that requires thin oil is asking for trouble.