Critical car maintenance issues that South Africans overlook

CAR insurance platform MoneySuperMarket has trawled through more than 200 million UK vehicle safety inspection records, giving a glimpse at the faults most likely to trip up everyday motorists.

- WILLEM VAN DE PUTTE

The data comes from the UK's DVSA MOT database, covering more than 3 200 models from major global brands. While the study is UK-based, the issues highlighted are universal - tyres, brakes and basic maintenance items remain the weak points across almost every brand.

What fails most often?

Three faults dominate the failure list across all makes and models:

@ Parking brake inefficiency.

@ Tyres worn below the legal 1.6mm tread depth.

@ Windshield washers are not supplying enough fluid.

These aren’t complex failures or hidden mechanical bugs. They’re basic, often overlooked issues that only get attention once a car is up on the lift.

Parking brake effectiveness is a standout issue, partly because many drivers rely on flat parking surfaces or automatic transmissions to keep the car in place, masking a weak handbrake.

Wiper systems and washers also feature prominently - simple fixes, but easy to ignore until the test day.

What about SA?

It’s important to understand that we have no such thing as an annual or even regular vehicle safety check. This undoubtedly contributes significantly to our diabolical road accident and death toll statistics and makes us feature regularly in the top five most dangerous countries to drive.

Once you have the licence papers and renew your licence every year, the vehicle could be in terrible shape, but you're still good to go.