It could be poor maintenance, procrastination, unexpected impacts or just plain forgetfulness, but the result is the same.
1. Hubcaps/wheel trims
If your car has steel wheels it has hubcaps (wheel trims) to make the wheels look more attractive, and these are fixed on by clips and, sometimes, sprung wire hoops. Usually, wheel trims stay fixed to the wheel pretty well, but it’s worth checking every few days to make sure none have worked loose.
But they don’t usually work loose on their own. Often, hitting a pothole or a roadside rock can flex the wheel or give the wheel trims a knock that’s enough to loosen their fixing. If any of the car’s wheels do get a whack, check the mirror to make sure you don’t see one of your hubcaps spinning away into the scenery. The same applies if you give the wheel a scrape or a knock when parking – it can loosen the wheel trim, even if it doesn’t knock it off.
After-market wheel trims are cheap enough, so it’s not the end of the world if you lose one. But the maker’s factory-fitted wheel trips are another story because these quality badged items will cost about three times more to replace than you ever imagined possible.
2. Exhaust
If you hear a rattling from underneath the car, the chances are your exhaust is trying to tell you something. Exhaust systems don’t just fail through corrosion and holes – sometimes they fail mechanically while they’ve still got lots of life left in them.
The exhaust follows a complex route along the underside of your car, held in place by an collection of clips and U-bolts. If a bolt or clip fails, the exhaust will drop and flex far more than it was ever designed to, leading to further failures.
It’s a lot cheaper to have a loose exhaust re-fixed than it is to replace a broken exhaust (no, really, a LOT cheaper), and tying it up with a bit of string doesn’t count. And you definitely don’t want to be faced with a long drive home in a car that sounds like a Russian tank with your exhaust left lying wounded and battered in a roadside ditch.
3. Oil filler cap
We’ve all done it. You do everything you should, right up until the very last minute. You
check the oil, top up the water level refill the washer bottle and check the brake and steering fluid.
All OK? Oh wait, you have to throw that empty plastic oil bottle into your recycling box. OK, you head back to the car, shut the bonnet, check it’s properly latched and head indoors for a nice cappuccino and a cookie.
Only you forgot to screw the oil filler cap back in.
The best-case scenario is that you wonder what’s rattling under the bonnet as you drive off, realise what it is, stop and refit the oil filler cap before the neighbours see what a dork you were. More likely, you’ll drive off and only figure out what you did after the filler cap has dropped out on to the road and been lost forever. Worst case scenario is that a whole lot of the oil that should have been on the inside of the engine actually ends up on the outside.
4. License plate
It starts out as one of those minor parking dings where you scrape the front of the car on a rock or even just a grass verge. No harm done, except that it’s very easy to loosen or break the license plate fixings and not realise it.
If you’re license plate falls off, you can get it replaced without too much difficulty, but it would be better still to get the old one fixed back on properly. Besides, a missing licence plate could get you pulled over by the police, which is embarrassing for a decent law-abiding citizen and positively disastrous if you’re an international super-villain of some sort.
5. Engine undertray
If you drive a low-slung car over a rough track, you can expect to hear some unpleasant scraping and thumping noises from underneath. Apart from making you wince, however, these could indicate something more serious. Most cars have a plastic engine undertray to protect the engine, but this can get loosened, damaged or dislodged.
So if you hear some rattling from under the car, or you see something dangling that shouldn’t be, get it checked. It’s a lot cheaper to get loose parts re-attached than it is to replace them when they’ve fallen off.
6. Bumpers, fenders and body panels
That goes for other exterior body panels. Sometimes these are attached with disappointingly insubstantial clips that can corrode, break or just spring off following a minor impact.
It’s one of those jobs that it’s easy to put off. Yes, the front/rear fender seems a little loose, but it hasn’t fallen off yet and it looks difficult to do, and you’ve got a busy week ahead etc etc.
But this could really come back to bite you. If your fender falls off while you’re driving, it will almost certainly be damaged beyond repair. Body panels for new cars can be ruinously expensive, and for old cars they can be increasingly difficult to get in good condition and in the right colour. You could be facing a huge repair bill or a respray, all for the sake of a quick trip to the repair shop.
7. Mirrors
We all get a sense for exactly how wide our car is, except that the driver coming the other way may have a different idea and clip your door mirror. When you’ve finished advising them about the state of their eyesight, you should check your mirror. If it’s been loosened on its mounting, the repair shop might still be able to save it, but if you keep driving until it falls off and clatters down the side of your car in a tangle of wires, bolt heads and glass, you could be facing a bill for more than just a new mirror.
8. Your groceries
It’s like a disaster movie in slow motion, made all the worse because the audience can see what’s coming. (1) You arrive at your car but your hands are full, (2) so you put your stuff on the roof of your car while you feel in your pockets for your keys, (3) but someone or something distracts you, after which (4) you open the door and get in, then (5) drive away, probably smiling, while (6) your groceries are scattered across the car lot like the props from a twister movie.
Be warned. This can also happen to your favorite Ray-Bans, your smartphone, your briefcase, your pastrami and caramelized onion sandwich and your priceless Bob Dylan vinyls. This is no. 8 on our list, but it could be the one that hurts the most.