The battery, antifreeze, tyres, brakes, lights, wipers and heater, tested properly on your drive before the first frost finds the weak one for you. Anything urgent can be sorted on the same visit.
Winter check
£95
Free with a Basic or Full service
Battery and charging tested under load
Antifreeze tested to its actual freeze point
Tyres, brakes, lights, wipers and heater checked
The honest bit
The first proper frost every year, the phone does not stop. Same call, over and over. Turned the key, got a click and a groan, nothing. And nearly every one of them is a battery that was already tired in October and nobody checked it.
That is the thing about winter car problems. They are things that were quietly going wrong for months, and the cold just finished them off. At around freezing a battery loses roughly 40 per cent of its capacity, while the engine needs more power to turn over because the oil is thicker. Less power available, more power needed. Add a heater, lights and a demister all running at once and the weak link shows itself, usually on the coldest morning and always when you are late.
So the check is not clever. It is the same list a good mechanic runs through in the autumn anyway, done properly, with a load tester on the battery and a refractometer in the coolant rather than a glance and a guess. If the car had a full service in the last few months, say so when you ring and we will probably tell you to keep your money and have the free battery test instead.
Everything on this page is cheap in October and expensive in January. That is the whole argument.
What fails first
What we get called out to between November and February, in roughly the order we get called out to it.
The number one call-out from November to February. At around freezing a battery loses roughly 40 per cent of its capacity, while a cold engine with thick oil needs more power to turn over. Less available, more needed. A battery that was quietly tired in October is the one that gives up on the first hard frost.
Coolant that has been topped up with plain water for years no longer protects to the temperature it should. Frozen coolant expands, and a cracked block or head is a rare failure but a terminal one. The concentration test takes a minute and it is the cheapest insurance on the car.
Below about seven degrees ordinary tyre rubber hardens and grips less, and cold air drops the pressures every week. Tread that was fine for a dry summer is not fine for a wet, salted January. Aim for three millimetres, not the 1.6 the law allows.
Dark mornings, low sun, spray and salt. A blown bulb you never noticed in July, a wiper that streaks, and a washer bottle full of summer-strength fluid that freezes on the first motorway run. Visibility is what catches people out most, and it is the easiest thing to fix.
Both work harder in winter: the starter turning a stiff engine, the alternator feeding lights, heater, demister and heated screen all at once. A charging system that was just about keeping up in summer falls behind, and the battery takes the blame.
A blower that only works on one speed, cold air on one side, or a screen that will not clear. Nobody notices for six months, then the first frosty school run makes it a safety problem. We check the heater actually gets hot and the demister actually demists.
The cheapest time to find any of these is before the first frost does.
The check
About an hour on your drive or in the work car park. You do not need to be stood over us, but you are welcome to.
Step 1
If the car had a full service in the last few months with the battery tested, we will say so and suggest a free battery test instead. The registration tells us which battery and wiper blades the car takes, so they are on the van if you need them.
Step 2
A proper load test, not a glance at the voltage. It tells us what the battery can deliver on a cold morning, and what the alternator is putting back. Terminals cleaned and protected while we are there.
Step 3
The coolant is tested for the temperature it actually protects to, and topped up or corrected if it does not. Hoses, clips and the expansion tank are checked for leaks, and the oil level and grade for cold starts.
Step 4
Tread depth and pressures on all four and the spare, brake pads and discs, every light including brake and fog lights, wiper blades, winter-grade screenwash topped up, and the heater and demister run up to temperature. A fault-code scan picks up anything the car has logged.
Step 5
You get told what needs doing now, what can wait until spring, and what each would cost. A battery, wiper blades or screenwash can be done on the same visit. Nothing else is touched without your say-so.
Point by point
Sixteen checks in four groups, plus a fault-code scan. Screenwash is topped up as part of the price. Anything else the check turns up is quoted before it is done.
Already had a winter check? The bits that go out of date fastest are the antifreeze, the tyre pressures and the battery. Fifteen minutes in January catches them.
Most of the winter check overlaps with a service, which is why it is free when you book the two together. Every price includes VAT and there is no call-out fee.
October or early November. Before the first hard frost, not after it. That gives you time to replace a battery or a set of tyres on your own terms, at a normal price, on a day that suits you.
By mid-January every garage in the Black Country is full of breakdowns and the same jobs take a week to get booked in. If a service is due anyway, book the two together in the autumn and the check costs nothing.
The full winter checklist, if you would rather do it yourselfFrom the workshop
A real job, in the customer's own words.
This is the call we get every December. The car that has been fine all year picks the week before Christmas to refuse to start, the family are due to travel, and every garage nearby is booked solid until January.
We were there within a few hours, found the fault and fitted the part the same day. In the customer’s words: “Elliot saved our Christmas! We are going away over Christmas, and as luck would have it, our car would not start today. No local garages could help, but Elliot was with us within a few hours, diagnosed the issue and fitted a new part the very same day.”
The point of the winter check is that most of these calls never need to happen. The faults that strand people in December were nearly always findable in October.
The registration tells us which battery the car takes, so if the load test says it is on its way out we can fit the new one on the same visit, from £75 fitted with a 12-month warranty. Start-stop cars get the right AGM or EFB battery, registered to the car's electronics, and a memory saver keeps your settings.
Worth knowing: a lot of the batteries that die in November were finished off by the summer heat. The damage just does not show until the first cold morning.
The Vehicle Service Plan is £20 a month for one car. Members get vehicle checks, a diagnostic scan and an annual inspection free, priority booking, and labour at £45 an hour instead of £65, with 10 to 15 per cent off parts including batteries and tyres.
It does not include the service or MOT themselves, and it is not breakdown cover. The plan page has a calculator that will tell you honestly whether it pays for itself on your mileage.
What the Service Plan actually includesOnce the car is ready
In their words
Found Elliot after a Google search, came out and ran a diagnostics on my car as wouldn’t start and couldn’t get it off the drive, quickly found the problem and arranged to get it to the garage and fixed it for me, fair price and quickly fixed to get me back on the road, can’t recommend enough, will definitely be using again!
Brady Small
Verified customer
My car broke down was recovered from home. Then Elliot did a really great job my bonnet wouldn’t open and I needed a new battery he also arranged a mot on my car. Really pleased with the help and work carried out friendly and helpful would recommend.
Denise Allen
Verified customer
So glad I have found a reliable, honest mechanic. Got my car sorted in a few hours. Supplied and fitted new battery at the house then took it to his garage to do a full service and fix oil leak. Happy with price and service received and will be recommending you to family and friends. Thank you Elliot 👍
Sarah Timmins
Verified customer
We'll tell you on the phone if you don't need it.
Done at your home or your workplace, or at the workshop in Dudley with collection and return included.
Workshop: Unit 6, Turner Street, Dudley, DY1 1TX. Open seven days, 7am to 5pm.
55+ years between them. 12-month parts warranty. £5m public liability cover.
Every job is carried out by Elliot or Keith - the mechanic who quotes your job is the one who works on your car. No call centres, no subcontractors.
Lead Mechanic & Founder
Founder of Your Local Mechanic. City & Guilds Level 3 qualified with 15+ years experience, specialising in modern diagnostics and hybrid vehicles across the Black Country.
Senior Mechanic & MOT Assessor
Senior mechanic at Your Local Mechanic with 40+ years Vauxhall main dealer experience and a fully qualified MOT assessor, known for honest, careful work across the Black Country.
Before you call
A battery and charging test under load, antifreeze concentration and the cooling system, oil level and grade, tyre tread and pressures including the spare, brake pads and discs, every light, wiper blades, winter screenwash topped up, the heater and demister, a look at the exhaust, suspension and underside, and a fault-code scan. It takes about an hour at your home or workplace, and you get a straight answer on what needs doing.
£95 on its own. If you book a Basic service (£99) or a Full service (£149) at the same time, the winter check is included free, because most of it overlaps with what a service covers anyway. Anything the check finds is quoted separately before it is done.
What the Basic and Full services includeOctober or early November, before the first hard frost rather than after it. Everything on this page is cheap and easy in October. By January the same faults are urgent, the garages are full of breakdowns, and you are the one stood on a dark driveway at seven in the morning.
If it was a full service in the last three months and the battery was tested, probably not, and we will tell you so. The one thing worth repeating in October is the battery test, because summer heat is what wears batteries out and the damage only shows on the first cold morning. That test is free.
Free battery testing and replacement at your homeMost last three to five years. Past its third birthday, have it tested every autumn. Past five, or if it already cranks slowly on a cold morning, it is living on borrowed time and replacing it on your terms in October beats replacing it on a hard shoulder in January.
Probably not the full check. A free battery test and a look at the tyres and screenwash covers most of the risk on a newer car. New cars are not immune, especially ones doing short trips, but you do not need to pay for the whole inspection to find that out.
You get an honest split between what is urgent, what can wait until spring, and what is a nice-to-have. No pressure and no scare tactics. Some things you can manage around for a while and some you cannot, and we will tell you which is which and what each would cost.
Yes, unless it is genuinely dangerous. We are equipped for it and would rather work in the cold than have you drive a doubtful car to a garage in it. Jobs that need the car properly lifted go to the workshop in Dudley, with collection and return included.
Yes. We run a breakdown call-out across the Black Country seven days a week, Mon-Sun, 7am-5pm. We would much rather see you for a £95 check in October than a call-out in the snow, but if it has already happened, ring us.
Emergency breakdown call-outTell Elliot or Keith the car and when it was last serviced. You'll get a straight answer on whether you need the check, and a time we can be with you.
Available Mon-Sun, 7am-5pm. We usually respond within the hour.