Car insurance - Tips & Advice - Car maintenance

When Direct Line carried out a survey last year, over half of the respondents said they had been the victims of garages overcharging or work being done on their car that wasn’t necessary, costing an average of £471 each. So what’s the solution? Well, you could train as a mechanic yourself, or you could read our simple guide on how to avoid paying more than you need to…

• Research the garage carefully – try to get a few price estimates as a comparison
  
• Recommendations – word of mouth recommendations are a good starting point. Tell a garage that they have been recommended; they’re more likely to try to live up to that reputation
  
• Read your manual – a quick read of your car’s service manual will help you ensure that repairs follow the manufacturer’s guidelines
  
• Extra work/parts – ask the garage to call you before they do work that wasn’t agreed previously, or fitting extra parts that you haven’t asked for
  
• Record the work – make sure any work carried out is noted in your car’s service manual
  
• Know the law – the law states that repairs must be carried out with reasonable skill and care, within a reasonable time, for a reasonable cost and any parts must be of a satisfactory quality.
  

One way to ensure the quality of your repairs is to take out Direct Line Car insurance. If you choose to use one of our approved repairers in the event of a claim, we will collect your damaged car free of charge, guarantee any repair work they carry out for five years, and will only return it to you after it’s been cleaned, inside and out. You know it pays to use Direct Line.