Haynes manuals are a bit of an institution – no one else has ever produced a range of home-user workshop manuals for modern cars. Manufacturers tend to make it hard to get hold of their own workshop manuals, so Haynes is often the only choice for DIY mechanics who want to be able to work on their car safely.

However, this website isn’t for DIY mechanics – it’s for people who just want to make owning a car as easy as possible.

So are Haynes manuals any use for non-mechanics like you and me?

Haynes Manuals – An Introduction

First of all, let’s take a quick look at what, exactly, a Haynes manual contains.

A Haynes manual contains a lot of photographs and detailed instructions that talk you through most of the common (and some not so common) maintenance and repair tasks that will be required on a particular model of car.

Everything is vehicle specific – so photos and instructions should always relate to what you see in front of you when you’re looking at your car.

By and large, the instructions are quite good and each procedure is rated in difficulty and lists the tools that will be required.

If nothing else, Haynes manuals are a useful way to prevent yourself getting in over your head with a job that’s more complex than you realise!

Haynes Manuals For Normal People

If you aren’t interested in fixing your car yourself and always use a garage, Haynes manuals aren’t that useful – but they do still have two uses, in my experience:

• They will help you understand what’s involved when your garage tells you a certain job is required
• They will help you with small or urgent jobs that you may be forced to attempt yourself – such as replacing windscreen wipers, checking and topping up oil and other fluids and changing a wheel.

Haynes manuals are available for most older cars but are still being produced for newer models. They tend not to become available until cars have been around a few years and are out of their warranty period. (Cars that are still under warranty should generally be repaired and maintained by a main dealer, to avoid voiding the manufacturer’s warranty by using non-original parts.)

Where To Buy Haynes Manuals?

Most car accessory shops, book shops and all branches of Halfords have a good range of Haynes manuals in stock. Amazon is good too and at the time of writing is much cheaper than Halfords!