Know your vehicle

Comment nous vous aidons à trouver la meilleure voiture ? Chez CARFAX, nous rassemblons les événements de la vie de millions de voitures d'occasion provenant de 20 pays européens, ainsi que des États-Unis et du Canada. Pour chaque voiture que nous connaissons, nous créons un historique et le mettons à ta disposition. Ces informations t'aident à contrôler les données de vente, à éviter des frais ultérieurs coûteux et à négocier un prix d'achat équitable.

Climbing into the driver’s seat for the very first time can be an exciting yet somewhat overwhelming experience. In this unfamiliar environment, you will be surrounded by controls, dials, switches, levers, lights and symbols. How are you supposed to negotiate all these gadgets, drive the car and pay attention to the road at the same time? • • • • • • • • To begin with, it will seem like an impossible task. Rest assured that every person who has ever learned to drive once felt as out of their depth behind the wheel as you do right now – it’s normal. Eventually, you will be able to control your vehicle as easily and effortlessly as you can control your body walking along the sidewalk. Remember, there was a time when you couldn’t walk either! You can make your first few driving experiences a whole lot less stressful by learning as much as possible about the inner landscape of your vehicle before you take it out on the road. If you know where to find and how to operate important controls, you can direct more energy towards essential driving tasks, like scanning the roadway and maneuvering the vehicle. As a result, you will feel far more relaxed and will be much safer. The modules in this section will help you learn about your vehicle’s most important features. The truth is that getting to grips with everything will not take long, as vehicle controls, indicators and devices are designed to be intuitive. Every time you are forced to take your attention away from the road, you ru...

Preventive maintenance is always a good idea to make sure your vehicle continues to run as you would expect it to. Experts state that once a year is usually a good rule of thumb to keep your car in tip-top shape. How to Know Your Car Needs a Tune-Up Because of sophisticated electronic ignition, spark plugs with lifetimes that exceed 100,000 miles, and on-board diagnostics, the traditional tune-up for engine timing and plugs is a thing of the past. The same goes for lubrication of joints, bearings, and other suspension bits. All these moving parts are sealed and lubed for life. When a routine service is called for, it’s to primarily inspect worn items. This includes the brakes and Check Your Interval Beyond oil changes, most routine service intervals are six months or 5,000 miles. These intervals are based on a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty, which is more or less the industry standard. Powertrain warranties commonly extend to 60,000 miles. Some carmakers offer longer warranties–Hyundai and Kia, for example, offer a 5-year, 60,000-mile standard warranty. They also give ten years, 100,000 miles on the powertrain. Volkswagen’s standard warranty is six years, 72,000 miles bumper to bumper and under the hood. Another element of contemporary warranties is that with some, the first routine maintenance visits are free, whereas others are not. Still, nothing lasts forever. A tune-up usually involves replacing various wear-and-tear parts that do just that. They eventually wear out and ...