Maitland Motors: DPF Doctor

We have big and exciting news to share with you all, Maitland Motors have joined forces with leading industry experts, The DPF Doctor. This means that we will soon be DPF cleaning and repair specialists (after some training over the coming weeks). This will be especially useful knowledge and product base for customers who drive diesel vehicles fitted with a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter).

A DPF helps to lower emissions by capturing and storing exhaust soot that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Legislation passed in 2009 made DPFs on diesel vehicles mandatory to help lower CO2 emissions. If your DPF is causing issues it may need further investigation, which is where the expertise from The DPF Doctor can save you time on the ramp and costly DPF repairs.

The DPF Doctor has more info on their own website about what we will be able to do when it comes to DPFs and have some great reviews from customers who have had issues resolved using their tried and tested specialist knowledge. Well known in the industry, we are very much looking forward to working with them and taking the garage into a more specialists area of vehicle repair and maintenance.

DPF Cleaning Kit

If you have any questions or would like to know more, just leave a comment below, call our office or send us an email.

#tipthursday Book your service

Maitland Motors’ #tipthursday for this week: Book your service.

We recommend serving your car at least once a year depending on mileage, age and driving conditions. After the past few years, most of our vehicles have probably been stuck parked up or on driveways and, understandably, booking in for a service just hasn’t been a priority. With restrictions lifting and life getting “back to normal” a service will prepare your vehicle for the roads again, helping keep you safe, prolong the lifespan of your vehicle, and prevent further more costly repairs that lack of maintenance often cause. Pop on over to a recent post about the importance of servicing your vehicle here for more details. Having a full-service history also makes your vehicle more desirable and sellable if/when it comes to reselling.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, leave a comment below, email or call the office.

#tipthursday Follow Our Basic Vehicle Maintenance Schedule

Follow our basic vehicle maintenance to help get the best from your car.

Here at Maitland Motors, we believe that maintaining your car is the most effective way to get the most from it. Following our basic maintenance schedule will help keep your car performing at its best and more importantly, safe on the roads.

Your Basic Car Maintenance Schedule by Maitland Motors

Full Service – 6 months prior MOT (This will depend on when you last had a full service, it may just need an interim. We can check beforehand and advise on the appropriate service required.)

Free Vehicle Health Check – 3 months prior to MOT

Pre-MOT 1 month before MOT

MOT (sign up for our reminder text service)

We recommend following this as a minimum depending on your mileage and how you drive. Most car manuals will have details of your make/model’s service schedule as per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

If you have any questions or would like to book in for a Service, Free Vehicle Health Check, Pre-MOT or MOT then call us in the office, email us or leave a comment below.

#tipthursday Get knocks, bangs and squeaks checked

With restrictions easing, cars that have mostly been stuck on the driveways or parked up will be driven more again. However, being stationary for long periods of time can also cause issues for your car. If you’ve started using your car more and hear any unusual knocks, bangs, grinding or squeaks get booked into before a small issue grows into a much bigger, expensive ones.
Christine has been on furlough most of this year so wasn’t using the car much. Once she was back on school runs and in & out of Burntisland she noticed a banging noise (like a water bottle rolling around in the boot) which after inspection ended up being the rear axle bushes. Leaving that any longer, excessive movement in the bush would cause wayward movement in the axle and potentially losing grip especially when cornering. With 2 young kids in the back every day, its defiantly not worth the risk of ignoring.

If you do hear any unusual noises while driving we offer a Free Vehicle Health Check where we get your car up on the ramp and visually inspect the condition of your car. Once we’ve had a good look we’ll give you a brake down of any issues or causes for the noises including an estimate of the costs involved for repairing. From here you can make an informed decision as to what work you’d like carried out and be fully aware of the current condition of your car.

For more information call our office, email us or leave a comment below.

Maitland Motors, Here to Help

How we can help making maintaining your car easier

We understand here at Maitland Motors, that looking after your car can be an added hassle and stress. That’s why we’ve put in place a few processes to help make maintaining your car that little bit easier.

Payment Assist. Payment Assist is a easy way to spread the cost for your vehicle repair & maintenance bill. Payment is split over 4 monthly payments interest and fee free making any larger or unexpected repair bills a bit more manageable. For more details we have a recent post here. (T&Cs apply. Please let us know in advance of any works being carried out that you plan to pay via Payment Assist so we can get the process in place in time for collecting your car.)

Payment Assist with Maitland Motors
Spread the cost of your repair and maintenance bills with Payment Assist .

Courtesy Car. Sometimes its just not possible to be without your car what with work or school run commitments, especially if your car is in for a few days on big or unexpected repairs. Hiring our courtesy car can help at just £10 a day. (T&Cs apply, please ask for more details.)

Free Vehicle Health Check. Been a while since your car last saw a mechanic? Book in for a Free Vehicle Health Check where we’ll visually inspect the condition of your car, giving you peace of mind that its safe or making you aware of any repairs or issues.

A Free Vehicle Health Check will give you a no obligation overview of your car.

Pick Up & Drop Off Service. We offer a limited Pick Up and Drop Off Service where we come collect your vehicle from your home or place of work in the morning for repairs or services in the workshop, then drop it back with you the evening works have been completed. Saving you having to arrange getting your car to us and getting home again. (Due to the pandemic we unfortunately don’t have a waiting area for customers.)

Good Quality OE Parts and Oil. We believe prevention is better that cure here at Maitland Motors, and a big part of that is using good quality parts and oil. They will last you longer, perform better and often come with good guarantees, giving you better value for money. After years or experience in the trade, we use trusted brands such as Mann Filters, Pagid brakes, Varta Batteries and Forte engine treatments. Not to forget we are Pagid/IMI Professional Braking Specialist.

Proud to fit Pagid here at Maitland Motors
Pagid brakes come with a 25 months/ 25 thousand mile guarantee which many other manufactures don’t.

MOTs can be easy to forget, especially since the DVLA stopped sending reminders. Sign up to our text reminder service where we’ll remind you to get booked in and avoid missing your due date. We only need your reg and mobile number to set this up.

We hope that your experience here at Maitland Motors is as smooth and hassle free as possible but if there is anything further you feel we could put in place, then please just let us know. Customer feedback is really useful in helping us grow and improve our service. If you’d like to book in and use any of the services above, call our office, email us or leave a message below.

The importance of servicing your vehicle

The benefits of servicing your car regularly from Maitland Motors.

Servicing your car can seem like an unnecessary expense sometimes, it passed its MOT, and it’s fine… However, here at Maitland Motors we always say prevention is better than cure and sticking to your service schedule as much as possible will really benefit you and your car in the long run.

What happens if you don’t service your car?

Over time preventable repairs will sooner or later be needed if the bare minimum you do is MOT your vehicle. Many of which may cost you more than servicing and general maintenance would have in the first place.

Congealed oil in an oil sump.

We recently had a 5-year-old car in the workshop that hadn’t been serviced in a while. Upon inspection, this is the condition we found the oil sump, completely congealed with oil. The repair for this is an expensive one; a whole new engine. At service, the old oil would have been drained out, and replaced with new oil and an engine flush would have removed a lot of contaminants within the oil filtration system. The oil has congealed like this due to dirt, contaminants and carbon build-up.

Benefits of Regular Services

  • Helps your car run effectively and efficiently, saving on fuel and maintenance costs.
  • Prolongs the lifespan of your car.
  • Prevention of parts failing and further, more costly repairs.
  • Helps keep you safe and legal on the roads.
  • Less likely to break down saving on the costs of recovery & repairs.
  • A well maintained and cared for car will hold more of its value if you ever decide to sell.

What’s the difference between an Interim and Full Service?

We mostly carry out 2 types of services; an Interim Service and a Full Service. Depending on mileage/ age/ budget/time since the last service, an Interim Service may be all your car needs to keep it ticking over. If it’s been a while, or your car hits a particular mileage/ age, then it may be time for a Full Service. Your owner’s manual will have a service schedule designed to get the most out of your own particular make/model of car. Also, most modern vehicles will remind you it’s time for a service with a service dashboard warning light.

Interim Service from Maitland Motors
All oil and filters we use at services are OE spec and won’t affect any warranties.
Full Service from Maitland Motors
We also have a limited pickup and drop off service, ask for more details. T&Cs apply.

Estimated prices for your particular make and model of vehicle are available upon request as each and every car is so different (amount of oil required, parts needed, etc, can all affect price), we don’t advertise fixed prices. If you have any questions about servicing or would like to book your car in, call the office, email us or leave a comment below.

#tipthursday Book in for a Free Vehicle Health Check

With restrictions easing again, hopefully we’ll all be able to get out and about a bit more soon. Make sure your car is ready for venturing further a field by booking in for a Free Vehicle Health Chick.

Most cars probably haven’t moved much over the past few months/year which can mean seized parts, dead batteries or flat tyres. At a Vehicle Health Check we’ll get your car up on the ramp to visually check all areas of your car, giving you a better of its condition. Areas inc,

brakes,
levels,
tyres,
horn,
wipers & washers,
seat belts,
lights,
power steering,
battery,
antifreeze,
cooling system,
condition of the exhaust,
suspension,
& all safety components of your car.

After checks have been carried out we can advise you of the condition of your car and if there’s anything that is a cause concern. There is no obligation to have any further works carried out but its always good to be aware of any possible repairs that may need addressing sooner rather than later. Especially if your MOT is due or more importantly, they cause any safety concerns. We can arrange a quote for any works and take it from there.

Give yourself piece of mind that your car is ready for the roads again. For more information or to book in, call the office, send us an email or leave a comment below.

Maitland Motor’s Top 5 Blog Posts

Our blog is one year old!! To celebrate, we thought it would be fun to look back and see which of our posts you liked the best. Here are our top 5 blog posts from the last year…

  1. #tipthursday – Check you Tyre Pressure Regularly. Why keeping your tyres pumped up to manufactures’ recommended PSI is important.
  2. #tipthursday – Check your Windows and Wipers Regularly. One we can all do at home, why keeping an eye on your windows and wipers will help staying safe on the roads.
  3. When should you visit Maitland Motors? A few scenarios when it would be beneficial to book your car in and get in checked.
  4. My MOT was due during the lockdown extension. What now? Advise on what to do if your MOT was due during lockdown 1 and was extended.
  5. Getting the best from your Suspension. How best to look after your suspension.

We hope you enjoy reading our blog and find it as a source of advice, hints and tips and more importantly an insight to behind the scenes of our garage. Being open and honest with our customers is very important to us and we feel that the more you know about car care and maintenance the better for every car that comes to us. That being said, there is always room for improvement, so is there anything you’d like to see more or less of on the blog? Do you have any car related questions that we could turn into a post? We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, just leave them in the comments below or send us an email.

Thanks to all our readers and customers who have taken the time to read our blog over the past year.

#tipthursday Turn off your wipers before leaving your car

With the wet and snowy driving conditions lately, our window wipers have probably been working over time (that’s when we are actually in our cars at the moment). Its really easy to just run out the car without turning them off and leaving where ever they happen to be on the window. Doing so helps to ensure they don’t freeze to the window screen. If this happens, the motor will try and move them which in turn can damage the blades fuses and the motor itself. So be sure to take a few seconds to turn off your wipers and see that they are in the start position.

We have more info on looking after your wipers and windows here.

If you have any questions or issues with your wipers just leave us a comment below and we’ll be sure to get back to you asap.

Looking after your car in Lockdown

With most car owners working from home or home-schooling at the moment, their car is most probably sitting on the drive the most of the time just now. This is great for saving on fuel costs and environmental factors, however an unused car can cause have some issues when you return to more regular driving.

Here are a few tips to help maintain your car during lockdown and in a safe condition to dive in case of emergencies.

  • Start your car at least once a week and let it run for 10 – 15 mins. This will help keep your battery charged. (Turning the air con on while you do this will help keep air flowing freely.)
  • Keep an eye on tyres going flat; sitting too long in the same position can affect your tyres. If you notice a slow puncture, pump your tyres back to the manufacture’s recommended PSI. (More on this on a previous post here.)
  • Beware of rust! Brakes, valves and cylinders can all become rusty without use which will effect their effectiveness . A quick once around the block every week will help keep parts freed off of rust. Listen out for any knocks, bangs, squeaks or changes in performance. If you hear anything or notice any changes, they could be an indicator that your car may need further TLC from a professional, before it escalates into a bigger, more serious problem for your car.

We also have more info on checks you can do at home yourself here. These checks can help keep your car in a good, driveable condition.

Unlike lockdown 1, there are no MOT extensions, so if yours is due in the coming weeks or months you will still be required by law to have this carried out. Doing so will help keep you safe and legal in your car, and also means that when restrictions are lifted again your car will be ready. If you are driving without an MOT you could face some hefty fines and more worryingly driving an unsafe car.

If you have any questions or concerns about your car during lockdown, then don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can get you booked in for a Free Vehicle Health Check.