Bringing your car out of storage

If your car has been laid up for a number of weeks or months, here are a few checks and pointers to consider before taking it out for a drive.

As a starting point - and sorry if grandmothers and sucking eggs come to mind - check your paperwork!  Do you have a valid MOT?  What about road tax and insurance?  Incidentally, if your MOT and road tax have expired, you're legally allowed to drive on the road as long as you're going to a pre-booked MOT test (then once you have an MOT you can arrange tax).

Next, turning to the car itself.  Have a look at all the tyres, check the pressures and bring them up to the recommended levels.

Then, open the bonnet, check the oil level and take a look at the radiator coolant level.  Top up if necessary , but don’t overfill though - those level marks are there for a reason!  Also check any other fluid levels that are easily accessible, e.g. windscreen washer and brake fluid.

If you've left the car connected to a battery conditioner, there should be plenty of charge in the battery.  If you haven't you might need to hook up to a battery charger for a few hours, or be ready with the jump leads.  Please be careful if you're using jump leads - there's a right way and several wrong ways to use them.  Give us a call if you have any doubts.

Check that everything's clear from around the car - by the exhaust pipe, underneath, etc.  It's amazing what items of household 'memorabilia' can get friendly with a car whilst its laid up and end up where least wanted.

So all's ready to start.  Key in, clutch down and fire up the engine - let it idle gently at first, don't rev it. You need to allow time for all the juices that have been lying dormant to move around the engine again and lubricate items that have drained down.

Whilst the engine's warming up, check all the electrics and gauges are working as they should.  Also check the brake pedal and ensure all feels firm and good.  What about the handbrake, does it operate OK?

All going well?  Great; give it three or four minutes and you are ready to move; take care, the hand brake or pads might be stuck to the discs; they should free off fairly easily though.

Out she comes from the garage - a lovely sight!

If the car has been standing for a longer period of time - several months - without moving, take care: the tyres may have developed 'flat spots' and gone a little out of balance.  If so, you may experience some unexpected vibration through the wheels when driving.  This will hopefully clear once the tyres get warm, but don’t rush around until you are sure everything is OK.  If it doesn't clear, sadly it will probably mean new tyres.

Setting off down the road, dab the brakes lightly at first; they will have attracted light corrosion - it's quite normal - and they won’t be 100% efficient until that cleans off.  They may also be slightly noisy in operation until they've cleaned up.

Drive gently at first, checking that brakes, controls, electrics, etc, all work as they should do.  Enter the first few bends at a nice careful pace and make sure your suspension and steering all feel correct.

Once the engine is up to full temperature, and you're happy everything feels right and is working as it should, open her up and have some fun.  And you'll soon be wondering why you didn't bring the car out of hibernation sooner!

If you have concerns about anything or encounter problems - sometimes clutches can seize or brakes bind on and not free off properly, just give us a call - 01234 750205 - and we'll do what we can to help and to advise.

The main thing is to remember cars are like us. They do not like to function flat out directly after they have woken up!  So wake them up gently...