How to Find Cheap Mechanical Garages in London
It is almost always very difficult process to search for good mechanical garages with competent mechanics whenever one moves to a new neighborhood in London. Moreover, with the recent downturn in economy most of the small cheap garages have closed down, thereby leaving their clients looking for other good mechanical garages. Here are a few tips which can help one in the challenging task of finding trustable and cheap garages, which can take good care of the car-
- Asking friends as well as neighbors can be a good idea in order to find out their recommendations for any specific local mechanical garage. As each and everyone has some sort of car repair needs, they are sure to have some good idea about some economical local garages. Relying on the referrals also implies inquiring about the kind of repairs which had been done at the garage and also probing bout the overall experience. A personal recommendation of a local mechanic is moreover the best way in order to find a reliable and competent local garage.
- Try and look for some popular franchises in the local area of residence if possible. Regional as well as national chains of mechanical garages are often known to provide quality services at economical prices. Franchises also tend to have the latest diagnostic equipment along with the latest repair information in relation with the latest car models. The franchise owners are required to meet certain standards in order to be a part of a corporate chain. Thus, in case one has any sort of problem with repair work at a mechanical garage franchise, registering a complaint with the chain can prove to be very simple and effective.
- Looking for new car dealers can prove to a great plan. The dealerships which especially carry the make of the car to be repaired can provide a great bargain. Even though such dealerships so not provide the cheapest way to repair the car, but they provides good service owing to the competition for new car sales in face of the slow down in the economy. An additional benefit of giving the car to the mechanical garages cum service departments of new car dealers is the use of only original manufacturer’s parts. Due to focus on focus on the car brand being sold, the car parts replaced or installed at the mechanical garages also often come under warranty. The new car dealers also have the precise tools required to repair each and every problem properly. The dealers might also be aware of any car recalls or figure the similar problem pattern specific to the make as well as model of the various cars being sold.
- Checking out the local business bureaus or yellow pages may also prove fruitful in order to find out cheap garages. In case some major work needs to be done like the engine work or the transmission work, checking out for the garage reviews online may be useful. However, always remember that a few complaints against every mechanical garage is quite normal, but in case a string of similar complaints is found against a mechanical garage, it should not be trusted for car repair work.
How to buy a car online
Shopping for cars has traditionally been a very hassling experience. Not only do you need to go around from showroom to showroom to see the options available but also you need to haggle with the dealers regarding deals and prices. But there’s an easy way out that is to shop for cars online as it offers various advantages. Some the various benefits are as follows:
Flexibility: Since the internet is accessible to you 24 hours and almost everywhere these days, the flexibility that it offers is immense. You can browse through the models of cars online and check up the stats you want whenever and wherever needed, this does away with the problem of finding time to pay a visit to the showroom to check something that you probably missed the first time.
Time Saving: Since you wouldn’t have to travel from shop to shop you would save a lot of time and energy shopping for cars. All companies and dealers these days have their own websites to cater to the customers. When using the internet, all features and models possible are just a click away.
More Options: Of course it is not possible for you to visit each dealer for variety especially is one does not have a specific model. Here the internet proves to be handy and lets you increase your scope to include and check more models of cars online in your search.
Less Haggling: As customers you would want not only the best possible service but also the best possible deals and value for you money. But with most dealers this proves to be a troubling affair, so if you go shopping for cars online, much better and comprehensive deals could be arranged and researched.
Reviews and Feedback: When you visit a dealer to check out cars, whatever he tells you is all that you get to know about the vehicle and he would of course try to hide the vices. But when shopping for the cars online you have the choice of looking at feedbacks and reviews about the models or for specific deals. This would help you make a more informed choice and acquaint you with the shortcoming of the product.
These are the certain advantages of buying cars over the web but do remember that when shopping for cars over the internet, you don’t get to see the product yourself so there is always a certain chance of fraud or deceit. Therefore always check the website’s history first. Get the car inspected by a mechanic first and make sure everything is given in writing. Keep the payment on hold until delivery or pay by a medium such as credit card or check so that payment can be kept on hold if any snag is to be discovered in the car. Remember the cost of taxes, shipping and other hidden costs if any while signing any agreement online and never be afraid to double check or ask questions and details when shopping online. This helps to prevent and scams and you to get the best out of your deal.
How to scrap car in the UK
Cars are scrapped all the time as they might be in an accident or incident that they never ever are able to recover from. Before you write off your car you can go ahead and call a car transporter and inform them about the car move. You can call the breakdown service and they will be able to inform you whether you should consider your car a ‘has been’ and a total write off or there is still life left in it. you can go ahead and scrap car in the most legal of manner provided you follow all the possible stipulations laid down by the law.
Things to organize for my car and trip before travelling abroad
Traveling abroad can certainly be an exciting time of your life. However, before you do so there are several things that you need to keep in mind before you are ready to go ahead and embark on your trip with the right peace of mind.
Continue reading “Things to organize for my car and trip before travelling abroad”
How To Search For Affordable Used Cars
Looking for cheap and affordable used cars can be a very easy task, but only if the right approach is followed. Some of the following tips stated hereunder can help you out in searching for the best and affordable used cars-
• Always try and steer clear of middlemen and dealers, while looking for affordable used cars. In order to get the best deals, it is better that you should take your search for the affordable used cars to the owners itself. Buying the used cars directly from their owners can help you in avoiding the unneccssary commission, which is charged by the car dealers.
• It has been observed that more often than not, neighbors also turn out to be a very good source of affordable used cars. It is thus recommended that you should drive around the neighborhood and observe if any of your neighbors or friends, have affordable used cars which they wish to sell. Buying used cars from such people often results in a better deal, that what you could have got otherwise from other sources. Moreover, you can also be assured that the used car seller in such cases will also be more upfront about the problems in the used car than other car sellers, whom you do not personally know.
• You can even check the myriad community bulletin boards in grocery stores, barber shops, hardware stores, etc. for any notifications by people willing to sell to their used cars. You can even check the public notice board of your workplace to check for such notifications by car sellers.
• If you fail to find any car sellers whom you personally know, you can always check out your local newspaper for advertisements from locals, who are willing to sell their used cars. In case you find any of the offers for affordable used cars interesting, you can directly contact on the return phone number on the advertisement, in order to start the negotiations.
• Another great option for searching for affordable used cars is the internet. There exist many web sites online, for the people who are willing to buy affordable used cars. Some of the famous big online car dealers include eBay and Auto Trader. You can also check out the web sites such as Craig List, as these offer free car listing for the car sellers. This ensures that the used cars will be available at more economical prices on such web sites, as compared to the other web sites, which charge a used car listing fee from the car sellers. Your can even check out the classified advertisements of all your local papers online. It is guaranteed that you will be able to find lots of great offers for affordable used cars online. It is surely your surest way to get what you want with the least effort and the maximum choice.
• The most pivotal precedence, despite all the various options available is to always keep in mind as to what important features you want in your car. It is important to set your priorities and not just stick to one means of finding affordable used cars. For example, people who might be unwilling to sell their car online might instead use the bulletin boards or the local newspaper to do the same. It is moreover recommended that you should always test drive the affordable used cars, before deciding upon whether to buy them or not. It is also a good idea to get the car looked over by a mechanic, before shelling out money for the same. Always get a receipt, upon payment for the used car and pay using a check, if possible, so that you might be able to stop the payment if you experience car troubles.
How To Find The Best Car Insurance
Car insurance is obligatory, in case you want to register and drive a car. The insurance rates mostly depend on the sort of car you choose to buy. Moreover, the various insurance companies use varied criterion for calculating the insurance premiums. In case you are not wary enough, you might even end up paying up to two or three times more insurance premium than what you ideally should. Insurance costs are governed by various factors, such as type of coverage, the condition of your car, your age as well as your driving history. With strategic planning, you can easily get the best car insurance at the lowest rates.
Given below are some tips, which you can use, while finding the best car insurance-
1. Call up some of the insurance agents, which have been listed on the Yellow Pages. Alternatively, you can log onto the internet and search for some of the top insurance companies. In order to choose the right insurance company, you can go through the company policies of the different insurance corporations on their websites
2. The next step is to fill up personal as well as car related questionnaires provided on these websites as honestly as possible in order to receive a price quote for your car insurance. In case the web site of the particular car insurance corporation does not have online quote facility, you can contact the insurance agents at the specified numbers and answer their queries to get the best insurance quote. Repeat this procedure for as many insurance companies as feasible and then compare the different quotes that you have received.
3. Also collect information regarding the services as well as the risks covered by the different insurance companies charging the same premium. Thus, on the basis of the information acquired in this and the previous step, decide upon a car insurance company which suits your need the best.
4. You can even reduce the monthly installments of your insurance by installing various additional security features in your car, such as air bags, anti-theft devices and automatic seat belts.
5. Opting for a yearly car insurance policy, instead of a six-month one can also help you in saving money and paying a lower insurance premium. Also, ensure that you have a clean history of credit payments. This is pivotal as it can help you in getting further discounts.
6. Insurance costs generally increase with the average amount of distance travelled by your car every day. So it is necessary that you should specify the least distance you need to cover, in order to reach your work place, so that you can get the lowest value of car insurance possible.
7. Insurance companies often offer sizeable discounts for customers being affiliated with the member directory wherein they are listed. Contact your car insurance agent for more information about the same.
8. In case you own more than on car, you might be able to save considerably on the car insurance premiums. This is true because this implies that all the cars are rarely used together simultaneously. Thus, it is essential that you should specify the idle storage periods of all the different cars, in order to get the most comprehensive insurance coverage scheme. Besides, you could also get significantly lower car insurance rates even if own a single car, which you do not drive too often.
9. Sometimes you might even have to pay a heavy price in the long run for an insurance you previously considered economical. This is mostly due to the several “catch” clauses, which might be present on the insurance agreement. You should thus consult legal experts before deciding upon the best car insurance.
How to Maintain Car Radiators
The car cooling system, consisting of water pump, the head gasket and the car radiators can be rightly termed as the pumping heart of the car engine. It is thus very vital that the car radiators should be inspected as well as maintained on a very regular basis. Keeping all the myriad parts of the car cooling system, especially the car radiators running optimally is thereby essential in extending the life of the other parts of the car engine such as valves, pistons and cylinders.
Some of the various tips that can be followed to maintain the car radiators are as follows:
• It is recommended that you should get the car radiators flushed, according to the recommendations of the car manufacturers. It is essential to flush the car radiators as the engine deposits as well as debris might lead to overheating of the radiator. This can be achieved by draining the coolant or the anti-freeze from bottom of the car radiators, and subsequently flushing out the core with cold water. The cold water can be sprayed using a garden hose. The car radiator should then be refilled with the appropriate coolant.
• Inspect all the radiator hoses carefully when you as soon as you start the maintenance procedure of the car cooling system. Due to wear and tear, the hoses may tend to leak and consequently brittle or cracked. There might also develop bumps as well as bulges in the pipe lining. Thus, it is recommended that you should always store some spare sets of the radiator hoses in your garage. The procedure of changing the radiator hoses in the car radiators and cooling system is so simple that you can even do it yourself.
• The car radiators and the water pump system should be periodically checked for any water stains, which might be present on the on the pump housing as well as the looseness of the shaft pulley. This is because the water pumps might fail due to the development of cracks on the seals. The bearings might also go bad unless regular inspection of the car cooling system is done. It is thus advised that you should examine these two features to ensure uninterrupted operation of the water pumps.
• You should always check the insides of the engine compartment as well as the crank case, besides the radiator for any foamy beige fluid residue during inspection of the car cooling system. This is pivotal as this fluid often gets formed due to the mixing of oil as well as engine coolant, resulting in a worn and cracked head gasket. This effect is undesirable and should be corrected as soon as possible as damaged head gasket may cause the car engine to get heated up to the extreme point, wherein the pistons, cylinders as well as valves would actually melt.
• The entire car cooling system, especially the car radiators should be carefully scrutinized for any and every types of leaks. This task is made simpler by the usually visible leakage of the brightly colored cooling system fluids such as the anti-freeze and the coolant. Bubbling, dripping as well as spraying of these fluids is generally an indicative of the urgent need for maintenance of the car radiators and cooling system.
Another useful tip is to always look out for any excessive rust while maintain the car cooling system. This is because as opposed to the rust colored stains on the car radiators and water pump housing, the rusty metal flakes and chips might lead to very serious corrosion. It is necessary to keep in check such a situation as it might lead to failure of the car engine mechanism.
How To Prepare For A Car Breakdown
It is pivotal that you should always be prepared in case of the occurrence of a car breakdown. This is because it might take the car breakdown services quite a considerable amount of time to reach you, when you suffer a car breakdown on the roadside. Moreover, in a case of an emergency, it is not desirable that you get stranded on your own, while waiting for car assistance to arrive. The best alternative is thus to take precautionary measures at all times against possible car breakdown.
Putting together and placing emergency kits in cars can come in handy in the case of a breakdown on the roadside breakdown with minimal expense as well as little trouble.
Some of the tips and items that you can utilize to save yourself from the woes of car breakdown emergency are-
* Always keep a flash light within the glove compartment, so as to provide for emergency lighting in case of a car breakdown. Moreover, they can be also used to signal for help. It is also advisable to keep extra batteries with the flash light in case the batteries within the flash light run out of power.
* In case you reside in a place wherein sudden snowstorms or ice storms are common, it is requisite that you should always keep the ice scraper as well as rock salt with the emergency kit in your car. Ice scraper can be utilized to scrape off the excess ice whereas the rock salt can be used to provide the necessary traction if the vehicle gets stuck in the snow or runs off the road. Extra anti freeze should also be kept in the car, so that you don’t get stranded in the frigid weather.
* An extra container of the wind shield washer solution should be also kept in the trunk in case you require it during a car breakdown.
* It is also prudent that you should keep jumper cables with you, in case your car battery runs out and you may need charge from someone else’s battery. Sandpaper can also be used to clean the corrosion from the rusty terminals of the battery.
* Duct tape should also be kept handy in the car itself for minor repairs. Flares can also moreover be used for alerting the other motorists on the road, where your car breakdown occurs.
* Keep gloves as well as a blanket or a sleeping bag in the car to shield yourself, in case your car breaks down during the winter season. Likewise, also keep a sweater as well as a jacket in the motor vehicle in case the weather turns warm during car breakdown.
* Garbage bags can serve as an excellent raingear to provide insulation from the cold weather during emergency car breakdown. Thus, it is advisable to include them among the emergency kit in the car trunk.
* Maintain a list of all the local emergency phone numbers on a neat piece of paper in the car’s glove compartment. Additionally, in case you have auto insurance, you should include the contact number of the car breakdown service available under it in the list so that it might come in handy at the time of the car breakdown. Also, keep the car charger for your cell phone in the car, along with water and a first aid kit at all times.
It is essential that you should not put off the preparation for an emergency any further, in case you have not already done the necessary groundwork for the same. It might also be a good idea to go through your emergency kit that you had prepared previously, in order to add any new item that might be required.
Basics to Changing the Tire on Your Car
Have you ever been stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire? Did you have to rely on the mercy of some kind sole to help you because you did not know how to change a tire? Well changing a tire is not that difficult. Messy – yes, difficult – no.
If you notice the signs that you might have a flat tire you should pull off to the side of the road immediately. If you travel any distance on a flat tire you will ruin it. When pulling off the roadway you should be careful not to cut off any other driver. You also want to get far enough over on the shoulder of the road so you will not be in danger from passing vehicles.
After you have your car safely on the shoulder of the road you should turn on your emergency lights. This will alert drivers to pass with caution. Then you need to retrieve your spare tire and jack from the trunk of your car. If you have a van, truck or SUV where the spare tire is mounted under the vehicle or on the tailgate you will have to remove it from there.
Check the air pressure of the spare tire. Do not attempt to replace your flat tire with a tire that has insufficient air. If this is the case you should call a towing vehicle to take you to the nearest tire store. But if your spare tire is in good shape you can proceed to change out the flat tire.
First you will have to jack up your car. There are a couple of different types of jacks and if you need to know how yours works there are directions in your owner’s manual or sometimes in the area where the jack was found. Be sure that your automobile is on a level surface as you should not attempt to change the tire on a slope. If you have a brick or if there is a heavy rock on the side of the road it would be a good idea to use it to place behind the tire that is not flat to prevent the car from rolling a bit.
Before you want to start to lift the tire off the ground you should loosen the lug nuts on the tire. It will be easier to loosen these with the weight on the tire. When the tire is in the air it will spin as you attempt to loosen the lug nuts. Once you can turn the lug nuts about one turn counterclockwise you can begin to jack up the car. When the tire is completely off the ground remove the lug nuts. Be sure to put the lug nuts in a safe place for later use with the spare tire.
Now you are ready to remove the tire and replace it with the spare tire. Remove the flat tire and place it in the trunk of the car. Place the spare lining up the holes with the bolts on the hub of the wheel. Begin by placing the lug nuts on the bolts and tighten by hand. Tighten as much as possible by hand before beginning to use the tire iron. Be sure that the tire is flat with the wheel. Then jack the car down to the ground and remove the jack and replace it in the trunk. Tighten the lug nuts again with the tire iron. It is best to do this by alternating which nuts you are tightening. For instance, when you tighten one lug nut tighten the one across from it next going around the wheel until all are tight.
Be sure you have all your materials in your car and take your tire in for repair or replacement. Spare tires are not generally designed to be driven for any length of time and if you do not fix or replace the flat tire if you have another flat you will not have a spare to replace it.
You Can Change Your Automobile Fluids Yourself
Your vehicle whether a new car or a used car has many fluids that help it operate. In fact, many of the fluids are very important for the safe operation and function of your vehicle. The fluids in your automobile include engine, brake, transmission, cooling, battery, air conditioning and fluid to wash the windows.
You should check the levels of fluid on a regular basis but always be sure to check them prior to making a long trip.
Oil is what keeps your engine lubricated and running well in a new or used car. The life and function of your motor depends upon having adequate lubricant. Checking the level of engine oil is performed quite easily. First drive the car and then park it and let it cool down for at least five minutes. You will find the dipstick under the hood of the vehicle. It is normally red or yellow in color. Remove the dipstick by pulling it straight up. Wipe off the dipstick and return it to its shaft and then slowly remove it again. Look to see where the oil lies on the dipstick. There are markers near the bottom of the shaft of the stick. The level of oil should be between the two markers. If the oil is low add oil a quart at a time. Be sure to check the level after adding oil. Add additional oil if necessary. It is advised to start the engine after you add the oil to let it circulate before checking the level again. Be sure you do not add to much oil as that can be problematic as well.
Be sure to check your automobiles transmissions fluid with the new or used car running. There is a dipstick to check this level as well. If you are unable to locate this stick your owner’s manual will show you where it is. Since the automobile is running and you will be leaning over the motor be sure you are not wearing any loose clothing or jewelry that may become caught in the moving parts. Remove the dipstick, wipe, reinsert and check the level. You check this level pretty much the same way you check the level of oil. If the level is too low add fluid. A low level of transmission fluid may indicate that you have a leak somewhere in the system that needs to be checked by a mechanic. If the level is good be sure that the color is not black. If the transmission oil is black it should be changed.
Brake fluid lubricates your brakes to keep them running properly. You can check this fluid level under the hood in a reservoir that is plastic and small. Fill with brake fluid if the level is below the two-thirds full line.
Cooling system fluid is changed when the engine is lukewarm or cool but not when it is cold. Due to the pressure in this system never check it when the engine is on. There is a cap on the radiator that you will need to remove. It is good if the fluid is close to the top otherwise add some fluid. The ratio of coolant to water is fifty-fifty.
Many batteries today do not require the addition of fluid. However if yours does you need to check it as well and add fluid as needed.
While fluid for your window washer may not seem important it is in fact very important. If you cannot see clearly out your window your driving and safety may be impaired. It is important to keep your windows clean to be safe as any other fluid in your vehicle.