Cars

There’s no escaping the fact that the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are falling here in the UK. With that in mind, now is the perfect time to give your car or van the once-over to make sure it’s ready for winter.

One of the best places to start is with the wheels, and more specifically your tyres. Etyres recently suggested that now is the ideal time to think about fitting all-season or winter tyres to your vehicle to improve your safety on the road.

Winter tyres are designed to perform at their best in cold conditions, so if you live in the north of the UK they are likely to be very useful.

Even if you’re not planning to swap your tyres, you should at the very least check their condition before the cold weather starts in earnest. According to Mix96, you s

Drivers of modified diesel cars are being warned against a specific modification that could see them face a fine if caught.

According to an investigation by the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), thousands of motorists across the UK are driving diesel cars that have been modified to remove the pollution exhaust filter - an expensive part to replace, the Express reports.

Removing the filter costs just a couple of hundred pounds and the process is not illegal, however, driving around in a diesel car without a filter is against the law.

Since 2014, 1,800 cars have been found to have had their pollution filters removed. Drivers of diesel cars can be fined up to £1,000 if caught, while van drivers could be made to shell out up to £2,500.

Vehicles manufactured since 2009 must have a diesel particulate

If you’ve just bought alloy wheels online, you’re sure to know just how expensive they can be – which is why they’re often such attractive prospects to thieves. This is why you need to do all you can to ensure your alloys are properly protected or you could find you have to make a hefty insurance claim, losing your no-claims bonus into the bargain.

Unfortunately, alloys are relatively easy to pinch and almost impossible for the police to trace once they’re gone. It’s easier nowadays for thieves to make off with your alloys and not the actual car, thanks to all the high tech drivers now have at their disposal.

But you can invest in the likes of locking wheel nuts, which can make it a bit harder for people to make off with your precious new alloys. That said, tools are now available that can be used to remove these wheel

It’s definitely true that you get more modified cars in some areas than others - and now if you’re into that kind of motor, with its genuine alloy wheels, big spoilers and tinted windows, you may want to visit certain parts of the UK to see how others have pimped their rides.

The Sun recently highlighted the top ten towns in the UK for boy racer-style modified cars, with the small town of Lighthorne in Warwickshire taking the number one spot in the list of places to see modified motors.

Using data from Euro Car Parts, the newspaper came up with the list based on the number of modifying parts purchased compared to the local population.

In at number two was Bangor in North Wales, while Truro, Bridgewater and Greater Manchester’s Sale made up th