Just saw this FREE winter check up for your car from Repco. Its Free but its encouraged to make a donation to support the Starlight foundation.
On this Saturday 31st May from 11am to 3pm at over 100 stores, please see below link for your nearest store.
http://www.repco.com.au/CA2571B70016E7AE/page/Listing-Homepage+Left+ArticlesA-Repco+Winter+Health+Checkenc(44)+31st+May?OpenDocument&1=0-Home~&2=~&3=~&REFUNID=~
"Uh-oh, wait a minute. These tires won't take a balance!"
Performed by our trusted trade partners, the following 5 points will be checked on your car -
Oil
Battery
Wipers
Globes
Screen Wash
I though either brakes or tyres would be at the top of the list
It takes all but 5 minutes to check what they've stated.To check tires is relatively quick too.
But brakes is a whole different ballgame, most of the time requiring removal of wheel(s), and if you have drums as the rear brakes… even worse. No way they are going to spend up to 1/2 hour inspecting your brakes for you.
But i agree.. brakes and tires are just as… if not more important.
Repco aren't mechanics, though…
The only non-trivial test there is the battery load test. And lots of places do that free anyway, in the hope of selling you a new battery.
Even the battery test is trivial. Just stick a probe on each terminal and then switch things on.
No offense to anyone but I personally think everyone should be able to do all these themselves as part of basic car ownership and maintenance. It could even be part of a licence test. I'd say men should know this at least. They all take five mins to do all up
women should know these basic maintenance checks as well. just changed the oil on both my cars this past month.
hell, even my mother, who needs me to change every light bulb in the house, knows how to check her oil, coolant, tyre pressure and battery levels (before the maintenance-free types came along)
the most laughable ones on that list are wipers and screen wash. am i to believe that there are people out there who cannot figure out if their wipers and windscreen washer are in working order. time to hand in your drivers licence..
Sweet, my car could do with a cholesterol check!