Car Shop Guide

A car is usually the second largest purchase we make after a house. But while few would buy a house without professional help, many think nothing of spending thousands on a new car with little more research or care than they would put into replacing their washing machine. In addition, a house has to be seriously neglected to lose value but a car, with few exceptions, depreciates constantly and while neglect makes it depreciate faster, it also puts at risk the lives of those in and around it.

The idea of this car shop site is to help the ordinary driver, not the enthusiast or amateur mechanic, learn responsible car ownership from purchase through to trade-in or scrapping. We’ve tried to make it non-technical and easily understood but to help you, any word in the glossary on page 203 is in bold type when it first appears in the text. Hopefully, this book will enable you to buy a car as painlessly and securely as possible, though even the experts sometimes miss things when buying something this complex.

Once you have bought the car, this car website will help you keep it safe and running efficiently. It is not intended to enable you to carry out a major service but should help you to realise when things need replacement or professional attention, and will explain how to get that attention.

It should be useful even if you run a company car. It is your licence and your safety at stake if something should go wrong between services, and many companies and leasing firms demand penalties of drivers for damage resulting from neglect or ignorance.

While this car buying guide is as comprehensive as it has space to be, it is not a replacement for your car’s handbook.