The autumn car check: what to sort before winter sets in

Summer is kind to a car. Everything starts, everything stops, and the weak points stay nicely hidden. Autumn is when they show up. Cold mornings, wet roads and longer nights ask a lot more of your car than a warm afternoon in July ever did, and the parts that were quietly on their way out tend to give up at the worst possible moment. A proper look over now, while it's still mild, saves you the breakdown in the rain come December.

None of this needs a garage or a ramp. Most of it you can do on the driveway in half an hour. Here's what's worth your attention.

The battery

Cold weather is hard on batteries, and most of the ones that fail choose the first proper frost to do it. If yours is more than about four or five years old, or the car has been cranking a little slower to start, it's living on borrowed time. A battery rarely warns you politely. It just doesn't turn over one morning when you're already running late. Getting it tested, or simply replaced if it's old, is probably the single best thing you can do before winter.

Wipers and washer fluid

Wiper blades take a beating over summer, baked hard by the sun, and you only really notice when they start smearing across a windscreen full of low autumn glare and road spray. If they judder, streak or leave patches behind, they're finished. They cost very little, they clip on in a minute, and good visibility matters more in the dark months than almost anything else. While you're there, top up the washer bottle with a proper screenwash that won't freeze. Plain water freezes in the lines and leaves you with nothing on a filthy morning.

Tyres

Wet, cold roads are exactly where tyres earn their keep. Check the tread depth, and remember the legal minimum across the UK and most of Europe is 1.6mm, though grip starts falling off well before you get down that far. Have a good look for cracks, bulges or uneven wear too, and check the pressures, which drop as the temperature does. If you live somewhere that gets a real winter, now is the time to think about whether a set of winter or all-season tyres makes sense, rather than joining the rush in November when everyone else has had the same idea.

Lights

The clocks go back and suddenly half your driving is in the dark. Walk around the car with the lights on, or rope someone in to help, and check every single one. Headlights on both beams, brake lights, indicators, fog lights, the number plate light. Bulbs cost next to nothing and most take five minutes to change. A blown one is an easy way to fail an MOT or get yourself pulled over on a wet night.

Brakes

You want your brakes at their best heading into the season you'll lean on them hardest. Any squealing, grinding, a spongy pedal, or the car pulling to one side as you stop, and it's worth getting them looked at before the roads turn greasy. Pads and discs are wear items and they don't quietly fix themselves.

Under the bonnet

Two quick ones to finish. Check your coolant level and, if you're able to, the antifreeze strength, because that is what keeps the engine from freezing and cracking in a hard frost. Then pull the dipstick and glance at the oil. Clean oil at the right level keeps everything happy when the engine is working harder from cold. If either one is low or looking tired, deal with it now instead of later.

Don't wait for it to break

The thread running through all of this is a simple one. Nearly everything on the list is cheap and easy while the car is sitting on your drive, and expensive and thoroughly miserable once it has failed on a dark, wet evening miles from home. An hour this weekend is worth a great deal more than a recovery truck in January.

Whatever the check turns up, we can help you put it right. SimpleSpares stocks parts for all the major brands, we match everything to your exact car so you get the correct fit first time, and we ship worldwide. Battery, wipers, bulbs, brakes, filters, whatever your autumn once-over throws up, look it up and we'll show you the options and the quality behind each one, so you can sort it before the weather sorts it for you.