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 it burns up the soot into a fine ash. This ash can sit in the filter and doesn’t normally cause an issue until the car has reached around a hundred thousand miles. You can pay to have the filter professionally cleaned about every 12 months which is often about £100 a time. If you do not look after the DPF then you may find that you have to replace it. The cost of this ranges well in to the £1000’s so is certainly not a cheap fix.