Capel Dewi Cars

That day will be forever branded in my memory. I was driving along minding my own business when my car just died and refused to start.

It was getting close to dusk, I was on a main street at a light and was in the middle of turning left with traffic coming straight at me when my car died. Turning the key off and then trying to restart it didn't work and I had to move fast. Thankfully I was on an incline and the car just rolled, albeit slowly but slow was still fast enough to get out of the way of the oncoming vehicles.

On the right was a parking lot so I held my breath and finally rolled into a parking spot unscathed. I figured I had nothing to lose so tried to start the engine again but it was just dead.

After talking to three different mechanics, I got three very different prognoses. The first guy said it sounds like the starter went out. The second guy said the alternator probably needed to be replaced and the third guy wanted to rebuild the entire engine! With three totally different ideas as to what went wrong, of course the prices were very different too. By now I was very confused and didn't know who to believe.

I did some research on Google to find out what the problem could possibly be. I found that the make and model of the car that I had been driving was notorious for just stopping as it did for me. The part was a computerized one and the vehicle part had been recalled. I was quite lucky to be in a place where I could get out of harms way rapidly.

Now, what can a person do to avoid something like this happening to them? I've come up with a few tips:

* Before purchasing a vehicle - take some time and research the particular model you are interested in. Find out the good, the bad and the ugly before putting down your money. You can do a lot of this on your computer.

* If you don't already have a reliable mechanic, interview a few until you feel comfortable or get referrals from people you trust.

* Now that you have your own personal mechanic you will be able to schedule routine maintenance and hopefully not have any negative surprises like I did. By staying with one shop, they will get to know your vehicle and you'll be able to schedule repairs when it's convenient for you.

Your future road trips, whether short or long distance will be more enjoyable knowing you have a safe, reliable vehicle.