Garages told to prepare UK drivers for winter

Make the most of profitable winter services with these top tips from Autodata

Garages told to prepare UK drivers for winter
Prepare your customers for winter.

Rather than waiting for customers to breakdown this winter, Autodata is encouraging workshops to be more proactive by contacting customers to inform them of the elevated risks of driving with vehicle faults during winter.

With batteries, tyres, brakes, lubricants and even lack of antifreeze fluids being significant causes of winter breakdowns, winter services can be highly profitable.

According to Autodata, the number of vehicles with battery issues doubles in the winter between November and February each year.

Last winter UK mechanics saw a 100 per cent increase of drivers with battery issues on the coldest days of the year.

The top reasons for winter breakdowns in the UK range from insufficient fuel to frozen engines, and the most common cause of winter breakdowns is battery failure.

With vehicles becoming increasingly complex, disconnecting and reconnecting batteries is no longer as simple as pulling the old one out and replacing it with a new one.

Check list for winter services
  • Battery.
  • Brakes.
  • Engine coolant.
  • Engine oil, brake/clutch fluid, PAS fluid.
  • Heating and air conditioning.
  • Interior/exterior lamps.
  • Tyre condition, pressures and tread depth.
  • Windscreen wipers and washers.
  • Screen wash level and strength.
  • Lubricate door locks and seals (if required).
  • Driveshaft gaiters.
  • Auxiliary drive belt(s).

Equipping your workshop with the most accurate, up-to-date and time-saving tools ensures that the work you carry out is of the highest standard and that nothing is ever forgotten.

Autodata’s dedicated battery disconnection and reconnection module has all the information technicians need to efficiently and successfully disconnect and reconnect batteries, and includes diagrams that show the locations and procedures for disconnecting batteries, instructions on preparing the battery for disconnection and a list of electrical components that need to be reset after the battery has been reconnected.

As well as the battery disconnection and reconnection module, Autodata provides many more modules that are useful for winter servicing, including electrical component locations, wiring diagrams, wheel alignment, tyre pressures and tyre pressure monitoring systems and air conditioning.

Steve Durham, technical support team at Autodata, said: “Building genuine relationships with you customers is of great value.

“Reassure them that not only do you know what you’re talking about but that you care.

“Give them some free advice, for example, ‘most people believe that air conditioning is only for keeping cool in summer, in reality, air-conditioning can also have an important role during the winter months too’.”

Follow the ‘more details’ link to find out more about the features and technical information provided by Autodata.

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