If your car has ever come out of its MOT test with a fail and a hefty bill of necessary repairs to its name, you’ll have no doubt bemoaned the fact you have to pay lots of money to change parts on a car that seemingly worked fine yesterday.
However, there is very good reason you’re paying for those repairs. The MOT is the baseline test for your vehicle’s road safety capabilities and identifies issues before you have a chance to find out about them in much more unfortunate circumstances. With that in mind, this article will look at just how important car maintenance is to your safety on the road
What maintenance issues can cause accidents?
There are a variety of common maintenance issues that can directly and indirectly lead to accidents. Indeed, what can start out as minor defects can become significantly worse if left to their own devices. According to a recent blog from the National Accident Helpline, here are a few of the main potential troublemakers:
- Mirrors: if your mirrors are damaged or in an incorrect position, you won’t have a full view of the road, other road users or pedestrians. This can lead to a variety of traffic accidents, which in turn can lead to a variety of claims made against you as the driver.
- Tyres: flat, damaged or balding tyres can lead to control and blowout issues.
- Brakes: brake defects are one of the most frequent causes of accidents and can be potentially severe if the driver is incapable of properly slowing down.
- Steering: a steering issue presents another potential control problem which can often start out subtle and worsen over time.
- Lights: many of us have had a moment driving in a well-lit area where we’ve forgotten to put our lights on. However, if one or both lights aren’t working for whatever reason, this presents highly dangerous visibility issues not just to you, but to other drivers as well.
Remember, all five of these areas can start out with little niggling issues that develop into something more considerable. Because of that, you need to make sure you’re keeping on top of these areas of maintenance, which brings us nicely onto…
What car maintenance should you carry out?
The prospect of car maintenance can seem daunting to many, however there are plenty of small maintenance jobs that are really easy to take care of and could make a massive difference to your day to day, on-road safety. As for the bigger jobs – don’t sweat it – your local garage can take care of those, but here’s what you can be doing for those potentially problematic areas in the meantime:
- Mirrors: make sure that each of your mirrors are positioned correctly and not damaged in any way before setting off.
- Tyres: inspect your tyres on a regular basis, making sure there are no bald spots and your tread is at least of the minimum legal depth of 1.6mm or above. If there any defective areas, seek out a way to get new tyres fitted.
- Brakes: check your brake pads every 10,000 miles and replace the brake fluid every 25,000 miles. You can try inspecting the brakes yourself on a regular basis, but this is more likely a job for the garage if you don’t have the knowledge of how to do so.
- Steering: if you’ve noticed a difference in your steering, it’s time to book your car in for a once over.
- Lights: check your lights regularly, making sure all of them are in working order – particularly before big journeys. Replace any bulbs that need replacing before you undertake your journey.
Sometimes it can be the smallest and simplest of issues that can cause the biggest problems, so regular check ups of your car are essential and highly worthwhile. This is not only for your safety but for the sake of your insurance, your financial wellbeing and giving yourself adequate protection around the world of road accident claims.
Hopefully, with the steps above, you’ll find it easy to keep on top of your car’s everyday wellbeing.
