Most common reasons for car to breakdown 

It’s impossible to always avoid having car trouble. Even if you’re a driving instructor and you rely on your car to earn a living, it isn’t possible to predict every problem before it happens. This article covers the most likely reasons for having car problems. Some of them can be avoided, so a bit of forethought might save problems later on. Remember if your car’s in the garage, whether it’s for planned maintenance or a sudden breakdown, you can hire a driving instructor car from us and keep working.

Electrics

A lot of sudden breakdowns are due to a fault somewhere on the cars electrical circuit. This starts with a flat battery, you might notice you have problems with you battery if your car struggles to start when you turn the key (or press the button). Driving instructors usually drive enough miles to ensure that the battery is kept fully charged, but like everything batteries don’t last forever. If you’re driving a lot, but still having problems starting your car it may be worth buying a new battery. They usually last around five years, so if your car is getting older and it’s never been replaced it’s worth thinking about.

If you know it’s not battery trouble, and you’re driving a lot but the battery isn’t getting charged you may have a problem with the alternator. The alternator generates power to recharge your battery as you drive. If it’s not working properly your battery will go flat. There’s no way you can do maintenance on your alternator, so if you notice you have problems with your electrics and you know it’s not the battery it’s worth getting it checked at the garage.

Another part of the electrical system that can cause a breakdown is the starter motor. Due to start/stop technology the starter motor has to work harder than before. If you keep your car regularly serviced you might avoid these issues, but it can still be a cause of unexpected breakdowns.

Tyres

Damage to your wheels or tyres don’t have to be your fault. If you’ve hit a pot hole at speed it can damage your wheels or tyres. Problems to wheels or tyres are a very common cause of break downs. Some of these will be caused by people not checking tyres and replacing them when they’re getting worn. You also need to check for uneven wear which could indicate your wheels are badly aligned. Pot holes are another main cause of car breakdowns. Despite the government allocating £500 million to local authorities to fix the roads there are still some dangerous holes that are sometimes difficult to avoid.

Misfuelling

It sounds daft, but anyone can make a mistake. Misfuelling is the sixth most likely reason for a car to be broken down. If you’ve recently replaced your diesel car with a petrol (or vice versa) it’s easy to forget and put the wrong fuel in your car. To avoid this issue it might be worth just having a sticker on the petrol cap to stop you making a mistake. If you have accidently misfuelled the sooner you call for help the better. The further it’s been driven the more wrong fuel will have got into the engine, so if you haven’t started the engine it’s the simplest to fix the problem.

Clutch

The clutch gets plenty of punishment on a driving instructors car, so it will need checking very regularly. If the clutch cable breaks when you’re driving you will have to pull over and call for assistance. If you notice changes to your clutch it’s always worth getting it checked out at the garage.

Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF)

If you’re doing a lot of short journeys in a diesel car the DPF can get blocked. To maintain the DPF a diesel car needs a good run on a faster road. You’re likely to be taking learners on faster roads for practice, but if you haven’t it’s worth taking it yourself to avoid problems.

Overheating

Modern cooling systems shouldn’t need too much topping up between services, but it’s worth checking just in case. If you notice the level drops frequently you may have a leak. Your cars cooling system works harder in hot weather, and when it’s sitting in traffic, so it’s good to keep it well maintained.

These are the most common reasons for a car to break down. If you keep your car regularly serviced then hopefully the worst shouldn’t happen. If you do experience an unexpected problem, or you’ve taken your car to the garage for some routine maintenance we can help you. Why not hire a dual control car from us and keep working?