Simple maintenance that keeps an older car reliable

This piece for MyKith collects the advice that holds up in practice.

Most breakdowns in older cars come from a short list of neglected items: tyre pressure, oil level, coolant, brake fluid and the battery. A ten-minute check once a month under good light catches almost all of them. Keep a small notebook in the glovebox with dates and mileage so you notice when something starts to need topping up more often.

Change the oil and filter at the interval in the handbook rather than when a light comes on, replace wiper blades every year, and have the brakes inspected when the tyres are rotated. These small costs are far below the price of a single roadside recovery, and a car that is looked after this way often runs comfortably past two hundred thousand kilometres.

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