When owning a car, you need to consider not just the day to day running costs such as fuel, tax. Insurance but also maintenance costs. This may include but not limited to tyres, service costs, bulbs, brakes and oil / fluid levels. All of these parts or consumables will need attention over a 12 month period and if you cover a lot of iles then you will probably find that they crop up more frequently. It is important to take care of your car to ensure it lasts as long as possible and maintains as much efficiency as it can. This may involve taking it to the garage whenever a new potential fault appears and checking the basics of lights, oil levels and other functions frequently yourself. Its not only...

When picking a new or used car you may need to consider the fuel consumption as this can have a big impact on how much your car costs to run. Often a car with a bigger engine will cost more to run although newer cars tend to be more economical than older vehicles. You may be surprised at how nippy a small engine vehicle can actually be as newer engines often product more horsepower. It is a good idea to keep an eye on the miles per gallon of your vehicle if you want to try and keep fuel costs down. Petrol and diesel costs are quite high at present so the more miles to the gallon you can get the better. You may notice that how you drive the...

There may come a time when you need to hire a vehicle to use. This could be for work purposes or for personal reasons. Sometimes people hire a car when going on holiday to enable them to get a large enough car to take all of their items. People also often hire cars when on holiday abroad or if they have a camper van and don’t want to keep driving it around once they are set up on a site. If you are looking to hire a car for the first time then there are some things you should consider and make sure that you check before signing a hire agreement. Reading through the hire agreement is vital and something that not everyone does. You may assume that it is...

When it comes to choosing a new car you will have to decide if you want a diesel or petrol. There are advantages and disadvantages of both. Diesel cars are often a little more expensive to buy to start with and the fuel is usually more expensive. Having said that you should get a better miles per gallon than the equivalent petrol models. Diesel cars that have been manufactured since 2009 have to have a DPF fitted (diesel particulate filter). This filter is designed to catch some of the harmful substances that the car releases into the air. This is a fine soot that is produced by the engine. Once in a while the car needs to get hot enough to carry out a DPF regeneration which is essentially when...

So many of us take the time to either wash our cars or go and get them cleaned on a rgular basis, but the inside is often left quite a bit longer and sometimes only cleaned once it has gotten really bad. By this point it can already be too late and many of the marks and stains may not come out. It is important to maintain the interior of the car as much as the exterior. You should aim to give it a quick clean at least once every two weeks and then a deeper clean once every month (depending on how much you use it). If you have a dog that comes in the vehicle then you should try and ensure that you have blankets or covers on...