If you ever watch professional valeteers cleaning your car you will see that they try and keep the wet process away from the dry.  You should also try and do this by hosing the car down in one place and cleaning it and then moving into to another place to dry and polish. If you are cleaning the inside of the car then it is best to start here.  Start by removing all the items from the vehicle, next you need to clean the dashboard and windows.  Make sure that you use the correct products to do this so that you do not make the steering wheel slippery and the windows smeary.  The final step is to hoover out the vehicle.  You may wish to clean the seats but be...

In the UK damage is often likely to occur when your vehicle is parked in a car park. This may happen when you are parking it due to tight spaces, barriers and raised curbs or it may happen when you leave it. Some people sometimes decide to park across two spaces in a car park but this is not only illegal but often causes issues for other drivers. If you do this you may end up getting a rather hefty fine. When parking, try to find a space that is plenty big enough for your vehicle to allow the doors to open as much as needed. Even if you are not going to be using your passenger door, make sure that there is still room to open it as the person...

If you buy a used car and have not got any record of the service history then you may need to do some investigation work to find out if and when it has been serviced. If the car you are buying or have bought is ten years old for example, the chances are it will have had at least a few services. You may want to have a look to see if you can find any receipts for the vehicle as this could show a service or at least give you an indication of who may have done one if the receipts are mostly from the same garage. You can also have a look online through previous MOT’s and find out garages that have carried out repairs. If it is...

If you have just bought a car or even if you just want someone to give your existing car a once-over, there are many garages now offering a free visual inspection. If you call up one of these garages and explain to them that you want a free visual inspection they can often fit you in the same day. The car is put up on a ramp in the workshop and then the mechanic will check over it to find out any damage on the car. They sometimes will ask you over to have a look whilst it is on the ramp so you can see for yourself what needs doing. This service is usually designed to check many components such as the brakes, suspension, tyres and sometimes the battery....

Tracking or sometimes also called wheel alignment is the process that is used to check that your wheels are in the optimum position according to the manufacturers recommendations. Many garages will offer a tracking service and often there are a few different types of tracking available. Tracking can be affected by a number of things but is often caused by driving over a pot hole, hitting the kerb or excessive wear to the suspension or steering components. Did you know that if your wheels are not aligned correctly, this can damage the tyres and cause them to wear unevenly? It can also have an effect on your fuel efficiency. Often the misalignments are described as either toe in or toe out. In the toe situation the wheels front of the...