Your car will have a warranty – every car, new or second hand, comes with one .

Which is great if you need to get some repairs done on your car. But it pays to read the warranty conditions closely, because you don’t want to void them.

One of the major conditions of the warranty regards repairs. The terms of the warranty usually stipulate that if you want your warranty to pay for certain repairs, they need to be done by an approved mechanic.   

This means doing some repairs yourself might void the warranty.

So what jobs can you do yourself, and which ones should you outsource to a mechanic?

There are some jobs you can do that would be silly to pay for. Replacing the wiper blades and changing the oil filter are easy for an amateur to do. Check out how-to-videos on YouTube to get instructions. More ambitious jobs – such as changing the brake pads – can be done in your garage if you’ve got the time, patience and a manufacturer’s manual. 

However, any procedures that require a lot of handling of the engine or difficult-to-get-to coverings are best left to the experts. 

You can find a qualified mechanic near you, here.

Warranty watch

If you’re getting work done on your car, always ask for a written estimate first. This should detail the repairs and the cost of the work, parts and labour, including warranties.

Because diagnosing a car’s problems is not always straightforward, the mechanic might find other faults before starting repairs. Just keep in mind that these extra problems might not be included in the original quote – so you’ll need to make sure they are covered by the warranty.

So tell your mechanic to call you before work commences on any repair that you haven’t authorised.

If your mechanic ask for up front payment, be careful – you might not be able to claim that work under the warranty – because you have not informed the warranty company prior to the work commencing.

For more handy guides to mechanics and their services, check out our Articles.