Van Insurance

Owning a car can be expensive, and spending more money can put quite a dent in the budget. Most car owners try to make sure their cars get regular servicing, but let’s face it, there’s always something else to pay for, and scheduling car service often goes by the board as a result.

Photo: splorp

The problem is that car servicing really can be a matter of life or death for the car. There are a range of critical systems which really do need to be watched and well maintained, including:

• Brakes- Critical for driving performance, as well as safety, the brakes need to be carefully watched for any sign of deterioration.
• Wheel alignment and wheel condition- Wheel alignment affects the behavior of the car every second it’s on the road. Wheels out of alignment can literally play havoc with on road performance and affect your ability to manage on road situations.
• Steering: Everyone has a comfortable level of steering, but the fact is that steering tends to relax over time, and become slower. That can mean making hard work out of basic steering jobs, and more seriously, making emergency steering very difficult.
• Gearbox- “No gearbox, no car” is the working theory, and it’s quite right. The gearbox rules the running systems on the road, and if it gets in trouble, so is the car.
• Transmission- Critical for all power systems, the transmission is usually pretty trustworthy, but like all other systems, it must be checked regularly.
• Suspension- The suspension is your protection against the horrors of what roads can do to cars. Road travel on iffy suspension can literally shake a car to pieces. It affects the entire car, including the frame.
• Engine- The engine is very much a time-limited machine. If it’s allowed to run without service for a sufficient period of time, the simple fact of running for so long will create any number of possible problems.

The real problem for motorists is that the issues these systems can create. They can cause a range of car repair issues that can literally cost a fortune:

The suspension alone can do significant damage to all parts of the car, with bumps and shakes putting stress on mechanical parts and other systems. Wheel alignment actually puts pressure on the car in much the same way as the suspension, creating stresses and imbalances which can affect all parts of the vehicle depending on wear and tear. Steering and brakes problems can put pressures on the other systems and create serious safety issues.

If you’re starting to feel that these situations are more trouble than they’re worth, you’re right. Repairs can be extensive and expensive. Regular servicing prevents these issues from developing into serious problems.

The risks simply aren’t worth it. A few dollars spent on servicing can save literally thousands of dollars in repairs, and a lot of worrying on the road. It’s much better, and cheaper, to be safe rather than sorry.