A vehicle that would fail an MOT through defects, is also a car that is illegal to be on the public highway.
This in turn means your insurance would be invalid!
Carrying out daily checks will not only keep you legal but it will possibly save you money in the future and possibly save your life.
Helping to Ensure we don't break down and to keep us legal on the roads, certain things should be checked on a regular basis, and some of these things should really be carried out daily.
Something as simple as not checking you have enough fuel before beginning a journey could be in the least embarrassing, but could lead to you missing an appointment, being late for work, or even put you in an extremely dangerous position if the fuel ran out at the wrong time.
It is also an offence to not have enough fuel for your journey and could lead to you getting a fine.
These items listed below are the bare minimum that you should consider before each journey.
We recommend a simple little system called POWDERY.
Powdery stands for
PETROL
OIL
WATER
DAMAGE
ELECTRICS
RUBBER
YOURSELF
PETROL. As already mentioned, you legally have to have enough fuel to cover the journey you are about to take.
OIL. Should you not have enough oil in your engine, you are living on a knife edge as to when you will be needing to pay out a lot of money for a new engine.
An engine needs oil to keep all the moving parts lubricated, without oil, these parts would heat up in an matter of seconds and seize up costing you a substantial amount of money to have it repaired.
Not only should you be checking your engine oil, you should also be checking there is sufficient brake fluid. With break fluid your car will not stop when you press the brake pedal.
And if your car is old enough, it probably has power steering fluid as well. If your power steering fluid became low your steering would become very heavy to move the wheels when steering.
WATER. A car needs water to keep the engine cool and also to supply heat to your climate control system to keep you warm in the winter.
The exact same thing can happen to your engine by not having enough water as it would by not having enough oil. It could cause your engine to seize up.
The coolant reservoir must have enough water to cover the minimum -maximum marks.
Also does your windscreen washer reservoir have enough fluid in it so that should you need to clean the windscreen, you can.
DAMAGE. Does you car have any damage to the exterior bodywork that could cause parts to fall off, or be sharp that someone could injure themselves on it? This would be classed as an MOT failure and therefore would make it illegal to be on the public highway. And without stating the obvious, could be extremely dangerous as well.
ELECTRICS. Are all the electrics working on your car? All light bulbs working correctly. Signal Indicators, Sidelights, Dipped Beam, Main Beam, Reversing lights, Fog lights, Number plate Lights, Does your horn work, windscreen washer jets, The wipers wipe, are all your dashboard light working.
RUBBER. Are your tyres in good condition with no rips in the sidewalls, no bulges, no foreign objects stuck in them such as glass, nails and screws. And do all tyres have a minimum of 1.6mm worth of tread across the centre 3/4 of the tyre and around their full circumference? Are the tyre inflated to the correct pressure for your vehicle?
YOURSELF. Are you in a fit state to drive?
Just getting hold of an owners manual can supply you a lot of information that may help you identify some small problems with your car.
Obviously don't attempt to fix anything that you don't understand. If you have a more modern electric vehicle be very careful, especially electric vehicles, as these carry electrical systems that have up to 415Volts running through them and in the wrong hands could kill you.
If you are ever unsure, seek professional advice or repairs.