Maintenance

The servicing, maintaining and repairing your vehicle can bring unexpected costs that you haven’t budgeted for. This can cause you a headache whether you own one vehicle or lease an entire fleet.

It is possible to have helpful little extras like Servicing, UK & Europe Breakdown Recovery, Accident Management, Relief Vehicles and Subsequent Road Tax Management built into your contract. Stand alone maintenance contracts are available for both private individuals and businesses, for new and used vehicles on a fixed price monthly or annual payment scheme.

Helpful tips

There are many steps that you can take yourself to prevent unexpected headaches.

Servicing and Maintenance

Regular maintenance and servicing should be carried out by a franchised dealer or an authorised agent according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. The vehicle service record must be stamped at each service, don’t assume the service record has been stamped, double check. Any defects or damage that occurs during normal vehicle usage should be rectified as soon as practically possible to ensure any consequential damage is avoided.

Regular Checks

We would advise that the following are checked weekly, even if your vehicle is on a full maintenance contract; it is still the driver’s responsibility to ensure regular checks are in place in between services.

• Tyre Pressures
• Engine Oil Level
• Windscreen Washer Fluids
• Radiator and Coolant Levels
• Check windscreen for chips and cracks
• Operation of the vehicles lights
• Vehicle Keys

Make sure that vehicle keys are kept safely with the spare key always stored in a different place. Car thieves often target the keys as the easiest means of stealing vehicles because manufacturers now achieve very high levels of vehicle security. Therefore, never leave keys in a conspicuous place in the house and certainly not in the hallway in reach or sight of the letterbox.

Appearance

Regular cleaning of both the exterior and interior of the vehicle will ensure a good cosmetic appearance. Polishing the vehicle exterior around four times a year will help reduce the effects of any stone chip damage, remove traffic film and make routine washing easier.

Paintwork

It is recommended that any damage to the paint is repaired as soon as possible after it occurs, especially when the damage has penetrated the base coat or has caused corrosion. All franchised dealers parts departments will stock "touch up" sticks and these are available at a nominal cost. Keeping a touch up stick in the vehicle ensures than any stone chips or small scuffs can be attended to usually without having to seek assistance from a body shop.

Badges and Sign Writing

Advertising or sign writing should never be painted directly on to the vehicle and should in all cases be fitted so that is can be easily removed without damaging any part of the bodywork or paint.

Owners Handbooks

The manufacturers invest a good deal of time and effort in the preparation of the vehicle operation manuals. Always read this prior to using your vehicle and have the manual to hand and consult it if you have a query or operation problem. If you have radio code or key code numbers in the hand book, for security reasons and theft, we advise you to remove these and keep them in a secure place away from the vehicle in case they are required.