Simple weekly checks to keep your car reliable

Why ten minutes a week is money in the bank

Most breakdowns and big repair bills do not arrive out of nowhere. They start as a small thing — a slow coolant weep, a tyre quietly losing a few psi, a bulb on its way out — and they announce themselves long before they become a problem. A weekly walk around your car takes about ten minutes and catches nearly all of it.

Do it on a Sunday morning, before the kettle goes on, or on a Saturday while the car is still on the drive. Whatever slot suits you, the point is that it is regular. If you are buying a used car, this same routine is the quickest way to work out whether the seller has looked after it. And if you plan to sell later on, a car with a thick folder of small, regular attention is worth noticeably more than one with a clean valet and a mystery history.

Oil and coolant: the two fluids that matter most

Park on level ground and let the engine sit for five minutes so the oil drains back into the sump. Pull the dipstick, wipe it, push it home, pull it again and read the level against the marks. Between the minimum and maximum is fine; halfway up is ideal. If it is dropping steadily week on week, get it looked at — on older engines a rear main seal or rocker cover gasket is a common culprit, and neither improves with waiting.

Check coolant only when the engine is cold. Never open a hot expansion tank. Look for the level sitting between the MIN and MAX marks, and shine a torch at the radiator and hoses for crusty white or pink staining, which is dried antifreeze and a sure sign of a weep. Top up with the correct mix — usually 50/50 water and antifreeze — not neat water, especially before a West Country winter.

• Oil: level, colour and smell. Black is normal in a diesel; milky is not.
• Coolant: level when cold, plus a look for leaks and a sniff for a sweet, sickly smell.
• Brake fluid: level in the reservoir, checked monthly rather than weekly.
• Screenwash: top up with proper screenwash, not fairy liquid, and use a stronger mix in winter.

Tyres: pressure, tread and the lanes we actually drive

West Country roads are hard on tyres. Hedge cuttings puncture sidewalls, gritted winter lanes chew at shoulders, and the potholes on some of our B roads would trouble a rally car. Check pressures weekly with a decent gauge when the tyres are cold, using the figures on the driver's door pillar rather than the maximum printed on the sidewall.

Under-inflation is the quiet killer. It costs you fuel, wears the outer edges, makes the car vague in the wet and heats the tyre up on a long summer run down the A30. Over-inflation is no better — you lose grip and wear the centre of the tread. While you are down there, run a thumb across the tread and check the wear bars, and look for bulges, cuts or items stuck in the tread.

• Tread: 1.6mm is the legal minimum, but 3mm is the sensible point to replace for wet-weather grip.
• Spare or kit: check the spare's pressure, or that the sealant and compressor are present and in date.
• Valve caps: cheap, easily lost, and they do keep grit out of the valve.

Lights, wipers and a quick look underneath

Lights are the easiest thing to check and the most commonly ignored. Put the headlights on and walk around the car: sidelights, dipped beam, main beam, indicators, brake lights, reverse and number plate lamps. Brake lights need either a helper or a reflective shop window behind you. A failed brake light is an easy pull-over and an unnecessary MOT failure.

Lift the wipers off the screen and check the rubber for splits and hardening — smearing in the dark and rain on the A38 is miserable and genuinely dangerous. Top up the screenwash at the same time. Then lie down and have a look at the ground beneath the car where it normally parks. Fresh drips of oil, coolant or a clear, oily fluid near the rear are worth investigating before they become a roadside phone call.

A different routine for electric cars

If you drive an EV, the weekly check is shorter but not empty. You still have tyres, lights, wipers and screenwash, and tyres matter even more because the instant torque and extra weight wear them faster. Check the charging cable and plug for damage, keep the charge port clean and dry, and glance at the 12-volt battery health if your car reports it — a surprising number of EV non-starts trace back to that small conventional battery, not the traction pack.

Before a long trip to Cornwall or across to Somerset, plan charging stops with a little margin. Cold weather cuts range noticeably, and a headwind on the coast road is worse than any brochure figure suggests.

Making it stick — and knowing when to hand over

Keep a small kit in the boot: a tyre pressure gauge, a litre of oil, a bottle of screenwash, disposable gloves and a torch. Note your findings in a notebook or phone, with the date and mileage. Patterns show up fast that way — a tyre that needs air every fortnight, a coolant level that creeps down, a bulb that keeps blowing.

Weekly checks are not a substitute for servicing. Book the annual service and MOT in good time, keep the receipts, and act on anything that worries you rather than waiting for it to announce itself on a wet Tuesday outside Okehampton. Ten minutes a week, done consistently, is the cheapest reliability insurance you will ever buy.