Parts freeze

Britain's current icy snap is seeing thousands of cars make unscheduled visits to the
workshop.

Research from an insurance company suggests that motorists with older cars could be hit
with an unwanted repair bill of several hundred pounds this winter, as the UK's freezing
weather makes some car parts a whopping 283% more likely to fail.

The warning comes from specialist insurer, Warranty Direct, which analysed data from
its 50,000 live automotive policies to reveal that ignition coils are almost three times
more likely to fail between December and February than between June and August.

Overall, the 50 components identified the firm as most likely to cause a breakdown in
winter will, on average, add an extra £408.60 to your outgoings in what is already a
costly time of year, although some repairs can cost as much as £1,100.

The news comes on the day following announcements from both the AA and the RAC to
say they have had the busiest days in their history, with the RAC replacing a battery once
every minute at one point.

According to the report, more than double the number of fuel injection pumps go awry in
winter, at a cost of £321.93 each and electrical components like central locking, heating
and wiper motors are also much more susceptible.

The most expensive items on the warranty list of winter woes are torque converters and
automatic clutches - oil lubricating torque converters takes longer to reach operating
temperature, while wheels spinning on slippery roads does nothing for automatic clutch
assembly – both of these will set your customer back well over £1,000.