Maintenance Guidelines

When it comes to maintenance during your contract you have 2 options. We refer to these as ‘customer maintained’ when the individual or company choose to take all maintenance responsibilities and cost. The alternative option is ‘funder maintained’ which includes a maintenance package provided by our finance partners.

Customer Maintained

The specific wording surrounding this option is as follows:

“The ‘hirer’ accepts responsibility for all servicing, maintenance, tyres, warranty disputes and vehicle recovery. The ‘hirer’ will service and maintain the vehicle in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines, and will ensure that any mechanical or electrical fault is rectified immediately. The ‘hirer’ will also maintain and insure the vehicle as per the finance company’s terms and conditions.”

This basically means that the individual or company taking the contract will carry out routine maintenance at the manufacturer’s specified intervals, and it will be carried out to their specification. It means that tyres will be replaced when necessary and that if any issue surfaces (e.g. warning lights), it will be dealt with as soon as possible. Please note that unless stated otherwise, maintenance can be carried out at any reputable, VAT registered garage (e.g. ATS, Kwik-Fit). This means you don’t have to pay main dealer rates.

Funder Maintained

The specific terms for each finance company will vary slightly (e.g. emergency hire car duration), however these key points listed below are available through all of our finance partners:

• Servicing and associated parts (e.g. brakes, oil change, etc…)
• MOT if applicable
• Tyres (excludes vandalism and driver abuse)
• 24/7 Breakdown number
• Enhanced breakdown cover with roadside repair, recovery, onward travel and emergency relief vehicle
• Maintenance booking facilities providing a collection and return service
• Mobile tyre replacement

Diesel Vehicles

In summary most diesel vehicles are fitted with diesel particular filters, AdBlue systems or both. These are designed to reduce the harmful particles emitted from these vehicles and to help protect the environment.

Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF)

Diesel particulate filters are fitted to exhausts and trap soot that is produced, preventing it from polluting the atmosphere. Diesel particulate filters need to ‘regenerate’ regularly which is basically when the DPF gets hot enough to burn the trapped soot into smaller ash particles.

Although this varies from car to car, the general method to achieve ‘regeneration’ is for the car to be regularly driven at 50mph or above for at least 20 minutes. If ‘regeneration’ doesn’t occur it will build up and excessive amount of soot and a warning light will appear on the dashboard. If this is ignored it will eventually cause damage to the vehicle. This is not covered by manufacturer warranties, nor is it covered by maintenance agreements.

If this is a concern try considering a different fuel type or technology.

AdBlue

AdBlue is another emission reducing technology. Vehicles fitted with this will have a dedicated tank within the vehicle. This can be filled up through neck similar to the fuel tank, which will have a light blue cap labelled appropriately. The location of this varies from vehicle to vehicle.

AdBlue solution is a consumable not covered by maintenance agreements or warranties. When this needs replenishing a preliminary warning will appear on the dashboard giving you a number of miles until empty. If the countdown reaches zero miles before being replenished, you will be unable to restart the car until this has been resolved.

Adblue tanks’ capacity can range from 5 to in excess of 20 litres. Please bear this in mind when replenishing the fluid.