How often should I have my car serviced?

How often you should get your car serviced depends on how often you drive your car. As a rule to live by, you should have your car serviced every 12 months. If you drive your car many miles every day – even if these are motorway miles – your car will benefit from interim services every 6 months. If you manage to cover 12,000 miles before the 12 months is up, you should then get your car serviced, too. This many miles is more than enough for your oil to become old and potentially sludgy, as well as your coolants…

Preparing Your Car for Winter: Maintenance Tips

Tis the season to pack your winter emergency kit and place it in the boot, ready for any long delays during the winter weather. Along with your emergency winter kit, here at Universal Tyres we recommend you thoroughly prepare your car for the harsh winter ahead. Here’s a few suggestions from our experienced mechanics. Have your car serviced A professional mechanic is qualified to inspect every major component of your car and check it for damage and wear. Not only that, they can monitor every fluid level and replace or top up fluids as required. A professional service is therefore…

Car Checks for Summer

When you’re motorway-bound and heading to the beach for the summer, the last thing you want is your car to breakdown. With higher temperatures, increased traffic and therefore congested roads, the chances of engine failure increase significantly during the summer holidays. That’s why this month we’re giving you a rundown of the basic car maintenance checks you can do quickly and easily to keep your car running smooth all the way to the seaside. Battery If you turn the ignition key and your car has a tough time starting, it may be time to have a professional mechanic look at…

Dashboard warning lights: Do you know what they mean?

The cars of today are impressively kitted out with the latest engine management technology, including your vehicle’s warning lights. Every modern car uses these and they’re the most effective tool for keeping your motor running reliably all year round. It’s therefore important to get familiar with what a warning light means, should one illuminate on your dashboard. In all cases it’s recommended to pull over as soon as possible and take the necessary action to fix the problem. In this way, you’ll avoid a complete system failure or serious breakdown. Afterall, solving simple engine issues saves motorists hundreds of pounds…

Why Local Garages Are Better Than Dealerships for Servicing and MOTs

We all know that having your car serviced regularly and also ensuring it has a full MOT history are important, but many vehicle owners choose to overcomplicate these processes by only visiting dealerships to carry out the work. Usually, this means travelling far greater distances to your local dealership and then paying an above average price for the work, all for brand loyalty. However, local garages outperform dealerships in more ways than one, and here we’ll be showing you just why that is. An Attentive Service Because the scale of operations in your local garage is significantly smaller than that…

Happy Motoring: Winter Checklist for Cars

The winter months can bring with them treacherous driving conditions that’ll put any driver’s skills to the test. However, a lot of the problems facing drivers are avoidable, so long as you ensure your car is in optimum working condition. In the first of this month’s articles, you can find just some of the checks you can carry out on your car to ensure it’s ready for the harsh winter weather. Check Your Battery If you run into some serious bother, your battery might be the only thing that stands between the warm safety of your car and the freezing…

Car Servicing : Myths and Misconceptions

Getting your car serviced regularly is an important aspect of keeping your vehicle healthy and safe, but there are a number of misconceptions out there that can distort the image of servicing for the worse that should be addressed. Therefore, in the second of this month’s articles, we’ll be looking at – and debunking – just a few of these myths so you can start benefiting from a regular, professional service without apprehension today. Myth 1: Servicing Costs the Same Every Year Unfortunately, a service does not cost the same every year. Although you may be able to assume that…

Car Servicing: Top 10 car problems

As discussed in our previous article, regular servicing will ensure your car remains in full working order and safe on the roads, while saving you money on running costs. Our experts at Universal Tyres have compiled a list of the top 10 common car problems, so you know which areas to focus on during maintenance and what symptoms to look out for in your vehicle. Brake system Whether it’s general wear and tear to the brake pads, or low brake fluid levels caused by a leak, some of the most common repairs occur in the brake system. As one of the…

Saving money with regular car servicing

  As many of us try to tighten the purse strings this January after an indulgent Christmas, one effective way you can save money during 2016 is with regular car servicing. Owning and running a car can be a rather costly outgoing, with unexpected repairs and breakdowns adding to the expenditure. Here are a few simple maintenance tips which will save you money on your car’s running costs, while helping it stay in full working order for longer.   Tyre pressure Tyres are a key factor in helping vehicles maintain balance and stability while in use, so a close inspection…

How to Check a Vehicle’s MOT Status Online

For those of you who own, or are thinking of buying a vehicle, you can now easily access all of your driving information in a new, simple way. Whether you’re buying a new car and want to check out its history, or you simply want to know the status of your own vehicle for your own reference and peace of mind, this is a brand new way of easily accessing all the relevant and important information, such as MOT dates. This is especially useful as a lot of vehicle information is no longer provided as paperwork e.g. tax disc and…