Taking your car to the local garage can be expensive. If money is tight, you might be tempted to skip scheduled maintenance. Or you might decide to carry on using your car for a few more days, despite the strange sound coming from it.
A car in bad repair will not suddenly break into flames when sat on your driveway. Yet, as soon as you turn the key, it can become a potentially lethal weapon. Lethal to you and anyone else on the road around you.
Car maintenance schedules help keep cars operating safely
Here are some of the vehicle parts that could fail and lead to a crash if not maintained:
- Brakes: The faster you can stop in an emergency, the lower the risk of a crash. Even if braking does not stop you in time, the more you slow down, the less the crash impact, so the less the chance of serious injury.
- Wheels: Having a wheel fall off while driving along because the bolts were not tight could be fatal. Tires have markers to show when you need to change them to help you steer and brake safely.
- Fluids: Oils and liquids used in cars become less efficient with time as they degrade. Replacing them on schedule and keeping them topped up is essential to ensure the various parts of the machine function effectively. It can affect your ability to steer and brake, among other things.
- Lights: A bulb is cheap to replace, yet many people go around with blown bulbs. Doing so makes it harder for others to see you and harder for you to see hazards.
Drivers have a responsibility to ensure the car they are driving is adequately maintained. If another driver crashes into you, poor maintenance might be to blame. Discovering all the factors that contributed to a vehicle crash will help you to claim maximum compensation.