Maintaining your vehicle

Regular vehicle maintenance is essential in helping to keep it roadworthy, safe to drive or ride, fuel-efficient, less pollutive and never a danger to passengers, pedestrians and other road users in the Brixton, Clapham and South London areas. Vehicle maintenance ranges from cleaning your vehicle and conducting weekly checks to full and interim car servicing and prompt car repairs which stop minor problems turning into bigger issues.

New practical driving or riding test
The new practical driving or riding test now requires that you know how to carry out basic maintenance checks on your vehicle. Candidates are required to answer questions on basic safety checks to ensure the vehicle is safe for continuous road use.

Weekly checks for all vehicles

  • Washing and cleaning your vehicle, particularly in winter, to ensure the windows, lights and door mirrors are clean
  • Checking and topping up fluid levels such as engine coolant, engine oil and brake fluid
  • Checking the condition of the vehicle’s tyres for damage, air pressure and tread
  • Checking that all lights work and illuminate correctly
  • Ensuring wiper blades are in good order and that the windscreen washer fluid bottle is full
  • Checking the exhaust system is in sound working order

Weekly checks for motorcycles

In addition to the above, motorcycle owners should:

  • Check for chain wear, correct tension and rear wheel alignment. Tension should be adjusted as specified in the machine's handbook. Drive chain should be lubricated to ensure excessive wear does not take place
  • Correct tyre pressure settings which can be found in owner's manual
  • Handle bars should be free to move smoothly from full left lock to full right lock without any control cables being stretched, trapped or pinched and without any snagging between moving and fixed parts

Check the owner's manual for your vehicle
Information on how to perform these tasks is contained in the owner's manual supplied with the vehicle. This manual will also cover any other additional maintenance activities that are recommended for your vehicle.

Servicing your vehicle
All manufacturers have routine car servicing or motorcycle servicing intervals. These vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and from vehicle to vehicle, depending on type of car or motorcycle and type of engine. Full details of car servicing or motorcycle servicing requirements are normally detailed in the owner's manual supplied with the vehicle.

We strongly recommend that Brixton, Clapham and South London motorists familiarise themselves with servicing intervals for their vehicles.

MOT your vehicle
Taking the annual MOT test or annual goods vehicle test will ensure that any vehicle over a certain age (this is a three-year period for most cars and motorcycles) is checked at least once a year to see that it complies with key roadworthiness and environmental requirements.

Environmental issues
After performing maintenance or car repairs on a vehicle, road users in and around Brixton or Clapham will need to consider how they will dispose of engine oil, fluids, batteries, tyres and so on. Careless disposal of these items can cause pollution to the environment. Many local councils and authorities operate recycling facilities where oil, fluids and batteries can be collected and recycled.

Contact your local authority for Brixton, Clapham or South London, or visit their website, to find out the location of your nearest recycling centre.

Call Ferndale Autos on 020 7738 3351. We can provide more information on car servicing, vehicle maintenance and car repairs for motorists in Brixton and Clapham.