Driving in and around Melton
The Western Freeway
The Western Highway is Melton's main road link to Melbourne, and the town has had its own freeway bypass since 7 July 1987, all 8.8 km of it. Interchanges at Coburns Road, Ferris Road and the Old Western Highway serve the town. Weekday commutes on it pile up kilometres, so check the odometer against the service book, not just the date.
Not many other options
The council points to a lack of public transport and limited local jobs, and Melton's V/Line trains are known for being crowded. If the household has one car and it won't start, a mobile mechanic who comes to the driveway is often the quickest way back on the road.
Hot and dry on the plains
Melton sits on flat former volcanic plains in the rain shadow of the Otway Ranges, so it gets less rain than Melbourne, and its fast-growing estates make it a heat island. Hot days find out a tired radiator, a perished hose or a battery that was already weak.
Victoria's rules
Victoria has no general licence for mechanics. Roadworthy certificates are the exception: only a licensed vehicle tester can issue one, and you'll need one to sell a registered car. Roadworthy certificates in Victoria.
The jobs that matter most in Melton
The ones that stop the car: a flat battery, a car that won't start, an engine running hot. A lot of that can be handled where the car is, so pick "Come to me (mobile mechanic)" in the card if it can't get to a workshop. Mobile mechanics in Melbourne.
If the temperature gauge climbs on the freeway, pull over somewhere safe, switch off and let the engine cool. Don't open the radiator cap while it's hot. Radiator and cooling covers what the mechanic checks next.
If it were our car
Before summer we'd have the cooling system and the battery checked along with the next service, on a day the car can be spared. It's an easy job in a workshop in spring and a hard one on the shoulder of the Western Freeway in January.