Advice

Why should you do a vehicle history check?

bonnet of a red car popped, showing engine with 'MAGNUM' showing on a central part

If you’re looking to buy a used vehicle, get a vehicle history check. It can reveal any pesky hidden details that might affect the vehicle’s quality, legality, or safety. The results may change how much you’d consider paying.

So, let’s look at why it’s so important to do a vehicle history check (and how you can get one).

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Whacky weather: vehicle care in sunshine and thunderstorms

the photographer's left hand holds a hose with an additional attachment containing soap, spraying a white car parked on a driveway. a road curves around in the background with white houses lining the street and two cars just visible either side of the white car being cleaned.

We know it’s a British stereotype to chat about the weather, but come on. Summer 2023 is already a weird one. After one of the wettest winters on record, the UK is now seeing scorching temperatures, warm thunderstorms, and weather warnings.

When it’s 30 degrees one minute and thunder’s echoing around your house the next, vehicle care can get confusing. Here’s the latest on what to prepare for, and how to prepare.

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Travelling with pets: expert advice

young, black lab cross looking out of the closed window of a car with its mouth open in a smile and the sun shining on its nose

Over half the UK population has a pet. We’re a nation of animal lovers, so when we’re travelling with our pets, we want to keep those furry friends safe.

From the Highway Code to general good practice on keeping everyone in your vehicle safe, we’ve put together some key tips for driving with pets.

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Learning to drive: be confident before your test

reflection of traffic and tall buildings in side mirror of a car

Learning to drive is a big achievement. You can bask in your independence. You can do late-night big Tesco trips. You can drive yourself to training, work, wherever, whenever (with or without Shakira playing).

No pressure, right?

It takes a lot of confidence to take your driving test. So, we’ve put together some tips to help you get in the zone.

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Cost of living: can you save money with an EV?

small glass pot with money in it and two plant sprouts appearing to grow from money

When buying a car, an increasingly popular question is “are EVs more cost effective?”

As electric vehicles (EVs) become more popular (and fuel prices stay pretty high), long-term vehicle costs are more important than ever.

So, we’ve done some digging and put together a guide on EV costs to help you decide if going electric is the right option.

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Expert advice: buying an EV

person with long brown hair plugging EV charger into wall unit

Buying an EV isn’t quite the same as buying a car used to be. There are a few different considerations and tests to check before you sign any dotted line.

As the number of EVs on the roads increases, and running costs rise for non-EVs, you may be tempted to make the switch. We talked to our Technical Support Engineers John Price and Scott Wilson about what you need to know.

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Expert advice: essential spring car care

person fixing back right tyre of Jeep outside on grass

With wild weather and unpredictable temperatures, spring car care can be tricky. There’s a lot to think about.

Thankfully, we’ve got some expert advice to help you out.

Here, our Technical Customer Support Manager, Scott Wilson, explains how best to look after your motor over the next few months.

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10 tips for taking your driving test in 2023

two people pointing towards a car with a clipboard showing a manoeuvre

New year, new you. 2023 is an open road ahead of us and this may / will be the year you pass your driving test.

But, as only around 50% of drivers passed their test in 2021/22, how can you best prepare?

Well, you’ve done the first thing already – you’ve come to the right place.

We’ve put together 10 simple driving test tips to help cut out any worries you might have about the big day.

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How to check if a car is insured

white car in foreground with blurred house in background

It’s illegal to drive without car insurance in the UK, so if you’re ever wondering “is my car insured?” it’s crucial to check. If your car isn’t insured, the penalties can be pretty expensive.

Police have seized over 2 million uninsured vehicles since 2005 and uninsured drivers cost over £2 billion to the UK economy. If you don’t check your car insurance, the police will.

Here’s all the important info you need to know.

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Supporting our customers with EV qualified technicians

EV technician next to a Green Flag van buzz-ing to see a customer, both waving at each other.

The electric vehicle market is growing. Quickly. And with government plans to phase out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, the charge of the EV is showing no signs of slowing down.

EVs are exciting, but from a breakdown recovery perspective (one of our favourite perspectives), they are one of the biggest challenges in our industry right now.

Luckily, we like a challenge. That’s why we’re proud to announce that at the end of 2022, more of our technicians became Institute of the Motor Industry Level 3 and 4 qualified to work on EVs.

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Expert advice: keep your car going for a million miles

million miles
Regular servicing is one of the fundamentals if you want to keep your car going for miles more (Picture iStock/A Stock Photo)

Drivers are keeping their cars for longer. If you want to be one of them, I can help you to eke more miles out of your motor.

According to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) data, more than nine million of the UK’s 40.3 million registered vehicles have more than 100,000 miles on the clock. And trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says the average age of the UK’s cars is 8.4 years, the oldest since records began.

Regular servicing is important

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Expert advice: try my car cold weather hacks on freezing mornings

cold weather hacks

Follow our tips below and this need not be you (Picture iStock/sonsam)

Standing outside on freezing cold mornings scraping ice off your car has to be down there with visits to the dentist and paying tax. All are necessary for very good reasons but that doesn’t make them enjoyable.

I can’t help you with your teeth or tax, but I can give you some pointers to make it easier to get your car ready for the road in the mornings.

Air-con’s your friend

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Expert advice: why your stop-start might not be working in cold weather

Stop-start

Is your car’s stop-start system on the blink at the moment? If it isn’t working as you think it should, there might be a very good reason for it. Stop-start is designed to save you fuel and cut a car’s exhaust emissions by reducing the amount of time your engine sits idling without going anywhere. And it’s on nine out of every 10 new cars sold. But if it stops stopping, is it a problem? And should you take your car to the garage?

It might be due to the cold weather

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Expert comment: our New Year’s resolutions will help prevent breakdowns

New Year's resolutions

Do you keep to your New Year’s resolutions? Or do you forget them as soon as you’ve made them? No matter how quickly you give up going to the gym three times a week, I hope you’ll stick to the five resolutions here. Not only might they save you a heap of money before the year’s out; they could also prevent you having to sit at the roadside in a conked-out car.

Some recent research found that millions of drivers don’t even perform the most rudimentary maintenance to prepare their motor for winter. Here’s a handful of checks that will keep your car motoring long after memories of New Year’s parties have faded.

New Year’s resolution 1: check the oil

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New data reveals the UK’s most unreliable used cars

Unreliable cars

Buy an unreliable car and this could be you (Picture iStock/Webeye)

If you’re considering buying a new car, it’s always handy to know the most unreliable models around. Thanks to data from car guarantee firm Warranty Wise, we can now see which cars are most likely to conk out, which year are the most prone to problems, what the trouble is likely to be, and even how much the average cost of some repairs is.

Warranty Wise admits that the problems it specifies aren’t guaranteed to occur on these models. But the data is from genuine warranty claims so provides a good pointer to the kind of trouble that is more likely to afflict some cars than others. Read on to discover 2018’s 10 least reliable used cars and which specific models to be wary of.

10 most unreliable cars

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Expert comment: Why the Slow down, move over campaign makes sense

Slow down, move over

The roadside can be a dangerous place. If you see something like this ahead, slow down and give it plenty of space (Picture iStock)

If you’ve ever had to get out of your car at the roadside, you’ll know what a hostile place it can be. It’s no exaggeration to say that for some people it can be deadly. To raise awareness about this, we at Green Flag have come together with the AA and RAC to support the ‘Slow down, move over’ campaign.

We’re asking drivers to pay more attention to what’s going on at the side of the road. We all know how easy it can be to have our attention diverted when driving. Whether it’s by something interesting on the radio or pondering a problem at work, we don’t always think about what’s going on outside our own little bubble.

Slow down, move over campaign in detail

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Got the hump? Drivers say speed bumps damage thousands of cars

Speed bumps

Speed bumps are used by councils to slow traffic in residential areas (Picture © iStock/AndrewMaltzoff)

Has your car been damaged by speed bumps? According to a new study, one in five drivers has suffered broken car components after hitting one of the traffic calming lumps in the road.

Measures to slow drivers down ‑ and particularly speed humps ‑ have been contentious among car owners since the bumps were launched in 1983. Now there are 29,000 of them in the UK and research by comparison website Confused.com claims 22 per cent of car owners have had their motors damaged going over humps. Of those, half suffered tyre trouble; a third said driving over humps had resulted in suspension problems. But what can you do about it? Read on to find out.

Are there any laws around speed humps?

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