Understanding Your Vehicle

Posted on: 2 May 2018

A breakdown takes time, money and a lot of effort to resolve. As such, it's sensible to take steps to reduce the chances of your car breaking down. Here are two such steps.

Get it serviced annually

Getting your car serviced once a year is a simple but very effective way to prevent it from breaking down. The detailed inspection that a mechanic conducts when carrying out a car servicing can enable them to locate and repair faults before they begin to affect the performance of the vehicle and increase the risk of a breakdown occurring. 

For example, if whilst servicing your car, your mechanic discovers that the battery's terminals have corroded, they will then check to see if the battery is leaking (as this type of corrosion is usually the result of battery acid seeping out of the internal case). If it is leaking, they may advise you to have a new battery installed.

This, in turn, could spare you the stress of dealing with a car that has broken down as a result of a faulty battery.

Likewise, if during the car servicing process, your mechanic notices that the tyres' are overinflated, they will lower their pressure levels. This could significantly reduce the likelihood of your car breaking down as a result of a blowout caused by over-inflation (tyres with too much air inside them are far more prone to blowouts).

In short, taking your car to a mechanic for a yearly servicing should drastically lower the risk of your car malfunctioning when you're driving it.

Watch out for leaking car fluids

If you want to minimise the chances of your vehicle breaking down, it's worth getting into the habit of checking the ground underneath your car's undercarriage for signs of leaking fluids each time that you park it.

If there are fluids dripping from your vehicle onto the ground, there is almost certainly a leak somewhere inside the car. If the fluid which is seeping out is an important one which plays a key role in the proper functioning of your vehicle, there is a chance that the leak could eventually lead to your vehicle breaking down.

For example, if you notice a reddish, oily fluid underneath your car, this could mean that there is a leak in the pan that holds your vehicle's transmission fluid.

A leak of this kind could cause your car's gears to suddenly seize up when you're halfway through a road journey. In this situation, you would probably not be able to drive your car until the transmission fluid was topped up.

As such, if you notice any fluids underneath your vehicle's undercarriage when it is parked, you should take it to a mechanic as soon as possible so that the leak can be fixed before it causes your car to break down.