The injury or death of a child in a car accident doesn't bear thinking about. Reading these tips and using your common sense could help prevent it ever becoming a reality for you.

• Never fit a rearward facing child seat in front of an active airbag – it's a lethal combination, and it’s also illegal.

• Always use a child seat that's appropriate for your child, no matter how short the journey is or how much of a rush you're in. The law says that any child under 12 years or 135cm tall needs a proper child seat, but that’s a minimum – there’s no reason why older/taller children shouldn’t continue to use boosters up to around 150cm.

• Failure to comply with these laws could result in a £30 fixed penalty fine, or a fine of up to £500 if the case goes to court. Parents shouldn’t need the threat of a fine to ensure the safety of their children, however.

• Help is available. Seat manufacturers will be able to tell you which seat to use, and stores such as Mothercare should have a trained staff member who can advise you.

• Children grow at different speeds but broadly speaking you'll be looking for a group 0/0+ seat for newborns and babies up to nine/15 months (up to 22/20lbs), a group-one seat between nine months and four years (or 20-40lbs), a group-two seat between four and six-years-old (or 33-55lbs) and a group-three seat up to 12-years-old (or 79lbs). All occupants over this age still need to wear a conventional seatbelt.

• Make sure you know how to use your seat. Read the instructions carefully and seek advice if you don’t understand them. Pull belts and buckles tight and check them before each journey to ensure they haven't slackened off.

• If your car has ISOFIX mounting points, it's best to use them. But remember that you may need to use an additional top tether or support foot to secure them properly.

Driving is probably the most dangerous thing you do. Recognise this fact, and you're one step closer to becoming a safer – and therefore probably more well off – motorist.

• Check your car. Brakes, tyres, windscreen wipers and lights are all critical. See our maintenance tips for more advice.

• Concentrate. There's a lot happening, so stay on the ball. Look well ahead to spot potential dangers and always be ready to react.

• Keep calm. Don't let congestion get to you. Accept that the journey that used to take 20 minutes now takes half an hour, and leave more time.

• Don't tailgate. Slow drivers hogging lanes on motorways are annoying, but intimidating them is not the answer.

• Slow down. Everyone's in a hurry but speeding to your next appointment could mean you don't arrive at all.

• Be aware of weather conditions and that they can change quickly. Just because the roads weren't icy where you started off doesn't mean they aren't covered a mile away.

• Never use a handheld phone. Even if you've got a hands-free system in your car, it's best to limit conversations as they'll distract you.

• Don’t drive tired. If you're flagging, you have to stop. Take a 20-minute nap and drink some caffeine. Opening windows and turning up the stereo don't work.

• Don't drink and drive. Your ability at the wheel is seriously impaired even by one drink.

• Always carefully read the label of any medicines you are taking. You should not operate machinery if taking certain medicines – this, of course, includes driving a car.

• Emergency braking. Most cars have anti-lock brakes. Press the pedal as hard as you can and remember that you'll still be able to steer. If you don't have ABS, pump the pedal and brake in a straight line.

• If your brakes fail, try to stay calm. Pump the brake pedal, gradually apply the handbrake and use the gears to slow your car down.

• If you start to skid steer in the direction that you're skidding in to counteract the movement.

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Fitting accessories to the outside of your car – such as bike racks, roof racks, roof boxes and tow bars – can end in tears if you don’t do it properly. So what do you need to watch out for?

• Always fit accessories by following the instructions to the letter. Incorrectly fitted attachments are unsafe, and a hazard to you, your car and property, and other drivers. Bikes falling off a rack on the motorway, for example, may cause a serious accident.

• If you’re unsure about fitting, ask a mechanic or your local dealer.

• Be careful when attaching and loading accessories – it’s easy to damage paintwork.

• Never exceed the carrying capacity of attachments – check the instructions if you don’t know what this is.

• Ensure that rear-mounted bike carriers don’t obscure the number plate or lights when loaded. If they do, you will need a supplementary light board to stay legal.

• Check that the attachment’s fastenings are secure before, during and after every journey.

• Drive with extra care and attention.

• If you’re carrying anything on the roof, it’s worth putting some kind of note on the dash to remind you to avoid multi-story car parks and the like.

• Remember that exterior attachments cause drag, can affect the car’s handling, and significantly reduce fuel economy. Always remove them when not needed.
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Less mechanically minded drivers can freeze up at the prospect of popping the bonnet, but having even a basic grasp of what lies beneath can save you shelling out for simple fixes.

Here’s our guide to some easy DIY jobs and pre-MoT checks.

• Check all fluids once a month, or before long journeys, and top up as required. Always make sure the car is parked on a level surface. Use the dipstick to check the oil level, and monitor coolant, windscreen-washer fluid and brake-fluid levels by checking them against the markers on the side of their respective reservoirs. Hydraulic power-steering systems and automatic gearboxes may also need periodic fluid checks. Dashboard warning lights often alert you when levels drop too low, but you shouldn’t wait until this happens.

• Check the condition and pressure of your tyres, from cold, at least once a month. Keep them inflated to the pressure recommended in the owner’s handbook to keep the car safe and save on fuel bills. Don’t forget to check the spare. Use a tread-depth gauge to make sure all tyres exceed the legal minimum depth of 1.6mm across 75% of the width of the tyre. It’s best to replace tyres when they reach 2mm.

To avoid wasting money on a failed MoT test, check the following items beforehand. Even if you’re not able to fix problems yourself, identifying them early can limit repair bills.

• Check the windscreen for chips and cracks.

• Check the horn, wipers and washers work properly.

• Make sure door mirrors aren’t broken.

• Check all the seatbelt buckles work.

• Ask a friend to help you check all exterior lights work correctly. Replace any blown bulbs and watch for broken lenses.

• Make sure the handbrake will hold the car on a hill.

Want to know how to change a tyre? Click here to see our six-step guide.

Follow our steps to good value servicing.

• Go to www.motorindustrycodes.co.uk to find a garage that has signed up to the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair. The self-regulating code of practice is designed to promote and safeguard consumers' interests by helping them identify better businesses, while encouraging garages to raise their standards of customer service.

• Shop around – costs even vary between franchised dealers, so don’t just return to the one where you bought your car.

• You can now get your car serviced at a non-franchised garage without invalidating your warranty, so call local workshops for prices too.

• If you do go to an independent garage, ensure it is VAT-registered and make sure the parts and fluids used are genuine manufacturer products. Get receipts and part serial numbers to prove this.

• Always stick to your car’s servicing schedule and ensure that the servicing book is stamped.

• Always read your warranty document thoroughly before booking your car in for servicing.

• If your car needs a repair or some warranty work carried out, however, this must be done at a franchised dealer in order to keep your warranty intact.

In between services, you can keep your car in tip-top condition by keeping fluids topped up and by carrying out regular checks. Find out what simple DIY jobs you can do.
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After depreciation, fuel costs are likely to be your biggest motoring expense. Follow these tips and you should save yourself a few quid.

• You can expect fuel consumption to be worse than the official combined figure. As a rule of thumb, expect 10% to 15% less mileage than this figure suggests due to the fact that real-life driving is more demanding than the official EU tests.

• Accelerating as slowly as possible is not considered the best option to save fuel – and it can also irritate other road users. Accelerate normally through the gears to your desired speed and then change to the highest gear possible.

• When cruising, try to use top gear from around 30mph up, and aim to keep the engine speed to between 2000rpm and 3000rpm.

• Switch off the engine if you're going to be at a standstill for more than a minute.

• Look at the routes you frequently take – your drive to work for instance. Are there less congested roads you could take? They might add miles to your journey but, if they cut out stop-start motoring, you could be quids in.

• Keep windows and sunroofs shut, and make sure your tyres are at the right pressure. Wind resistance and drag from under-inflated tyres will increase fuel bills. Always remove roof racks and bike racks when not needed, and don't carry unnecessary items in your boot.

• Use of the stereo, rear demisters, lights and air-conditioning adds to the fuel bill.

• A dirty engine with lots of sooty deposits can worsen fuel economy. Changing the oil can help to improve things here.

• There are lots of 'snake oil' solutions on the market, which supposedly improve performance and lower fuel consumption and emissions with simple tablets, magnetic strips or a squirt of additive. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
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If you are buying a new car you will automatically get three years' warranty cover. If you are buying used, however, it could be worth investing in an after-market warranty to ensure you're covered should anything go wrong.

• Used car warranties are available from main dealers or from warranty specialists such as Warranty Direct, Warranty Wise and Warranty Works. You can usually save money by dealing with the warranty company direct, rather than through a car dealer or warranty broker.

• Shop around for cover because prices vary dramatically from company to company. However, be sure to compare like with like because not all warranties offer the same level of cover.

• Make sure you know exactly what is covered by the warranty you buy, and what you must do to keep the cover valid.

• Most used car warranties require you to have your car serviced according to the manufacturer's schedule but you should be able to take your car to any garage for servicing and repairs.

• Always read the warranty document thoroughly.

For more information on the What Car? warranty, click here.

For more information on whether to buy new or used, click here.
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