Your car should be regularly serviced to keep it in great condition, but did you know that there are some car servicing tips that you can use to help your mechanic to extend your car’s life? You can enjoy a smooth drive in areas like London and can easily get rid of unexpected car breakdowns.

Here are five ways you can enhance your vehicle’s servicing and keep your car running smoothly between annual services – or, of course, you can book your car in for a minor or interim service so your local mechanic can do it for you.

Keep Your Battery Ticking Over

Keep an eye on your battery, especially if you do not use your car often. Some people tend not to drive in winter, and this means that their cars can stand for three or four months of the year. This can result in your battery running down completely – and this can be harmful to the battery which can begin to degrade, and further harm can be caused with a jump start: a hefty jolt of external power which can wreak extra wear and tear on the battery itself but can also damage the delicate electronics systems in the same way a lightning strike can fuse your household lights. If you are not going to be driving your car for a while, you can keep it on a trickle charger (as it sounds, a very slow charge that just keeps the battery level static) or you can turn the engine over by running it for a few minutes each week.

Watch the Filters

Oil and air filters are called consumables, because your car will go through a lot of them over its lifetime. Air filters ensure that particulates in the air are trapped and not allowed to travel into the engine where they could build up and cause issues. However, a dirty air filter can become a whole new type of problem, cutting the airflow into the engine, which makes the engine work harder (rather like an asthmatic trying to run upstairs while suffering an attack). When the engine works harder, it consumes more fuel too, so ensuring your air filters are always reasonably clean literally saves you money. Your oil filter is similar, ensuring that only smooth, particle-free oil can circulate and lubricate your engine. The damage that can be caused by poor quality oil can be catastrophic to an engine, so it is better to pay a few pounds for a new filter, rather than thousands when dirty air or oil becomes a problem to you, so book that service sooner rather than later. If you are not sure about what type of service you need – you can consult with DAT Tyres and book car servicing in London.

Get a ‘Feel’ for Your Car

When you are driving, be mindful of the way your car moves, sounds and responds to your control. In this way, you will be able to sense when the car is responding well and can enhance that with what the RAC calls ‘sympathetic driving’. Sympathetic driving involved paying attention to the vehicle and, for example, accelerating smoothly or changing gear at exactly the right moment.

Balance Air-Con with Fuel

If you are trying to save fuel money by cutting down on your air conditioning, this could prove a false economy. Air condition coolant gas leaks very readily, and if you don’t use the air conditioning, this leakage worsens. However, running the air conditioning can indeed use more fuel, so you will have to find the sweet point between using your air conditioning a little, but not too much! Your mechanic can advise you on best practices and also top up your coolant, should you need it.

Check on Your Spark Plugs

Finally, it used to be a very common practice for drivers to check their own spark plugs, but this has fallen away somewhat as cars have become more modernized. However, the basic ignition engine still operates on the same principles and spark plugs still get dirty or underperform.

Learn how to see the difference between a good spark plug and a bad one, and this will help you to help your mechanic to keep your car in great condition for longer.