Can I change my wiper blades myself, or should a garage do it?
Do it yourself. A garage or fast-fit chain will charge £25-45 to fit wiper blades that cost £12-25 to buy, and fitting them takes five minutes with no tools at all. This is the easiest job on any car, and paying someone £30 in labour for it is money down the drain.
What a garage charges vs doing it yourself
The numbers here aren't close. Most of what you pay a fast-fit branch is labour and markup on a part that clips on by hand.
| Garage or fast-fit, fitted | Parts only | You save |
|---|---|---|
| £25-45 | £12-25 | £13-33 |
There's a third option worth knowing about. Buy the blades over the counter at a motor factors or Halfords and they'll usually fit them on the spot for free or a couple of quid. That's the best deal of all if you don't fancy touching the car yourself.
How hard is it really?
Not hard. Honestly. You lift the wiper arm away from the glass, press a small plastic tab or clip where the blade meets the arm, slide the old blade off, and click the new one on until it snaps home. Most blades come with a picture instruction sheet that covers the common arm fittings. Five minutes, both sides, done in the supermarket car park if you like.
The one genuine hazard: a wiper arm under spring tension. If it slips out of your hand with no blade on it, the bare metal arm cracks down onto the glass hard enough to chip or even crack the windscreen. Drape a towel over the glass while you work and that risk disappears.
Get the sizes right before you buy. Driver and passenger blades are usually different lengths, and plenty of cars have a rear blade with its own fitting too. Every retailer has a lookup by registration, so use it rather than guessing. Online, a decent set of blades is £12-25; just run your reg through the fitment checker before you add to basket, because a blade that's 2cm too long will catch the trim and squeak forever.
When you should NOT DIY this
Almost never, but there are two small exceptions. Some cars park their wipers under the bonnet lip, hidden below the windscreen, and you need to put them in a "service position" first, usually by flicking the wiper stalk within a few seconds of turning the ignition off. Your handbook or a 60-second video for your model will show you. If you force a hidden arm up without doing that, you can bend the linkage.
And if the fitting on your car looks nothing like anything on the instruction sheet, stop. A motor factors will sort it in a minute for nothing. No shame in that.
If you'd rather a garage do it
Fair enough, but don't pay dealer money for it. Anything up to about £40 fitted with decent branded blades is reasonable. A main dealer asking £60-80 for "wiper blade replacement" at service time is charging you half an hour of labour for a five-minute job, which is exactly the sort of line item worth questioning. If you think you've been stung on padding like this, our overcharging guide covers how to push back. Cheapest legitimate route: buy the blades at a motor factors and ask nicely. Fitting is usually free.
Common questions
How often should wiper blades be changed?
Roughly once a year, or as soon as they smear, judder or leave streaks. Rubber hardens with UV and frost regardless of mileage, so even a low-mileage car needs fresh blades annually. In the UK, changing them each autumn before the wet season is a sensible habit.
Are both wiper blades the same size?
Usually not. The driver's side blade is typically longer than the passenger's, and many hatchbacks and SUVs have a rear blade with a different fitting again. Always look your car up by registration on the retailer's fitment checker rather than measuring by eye.
Will Halfords or a motor factors fit wiper blades for free?
Motor factors will usually fit blades free when you buy from them. Halfords charges a small fitting fee, a few pounds per blade, unless you have their motoring club membership. Either way it's far cheaper than the £25-45 a garage or fast-fit chain charges.
Can worn wiper blades fail an MOT?
Yes. The tester checks that wipers clear the screen well enough to give the driver a proper view. Blades that smear badly, are split, or miss sections of glass can be recorded as a fail or an advisory. It's one of the cheapest MOT fails there is to prevent.
Why do my brand new wiper blades still smear?
Three usual causes: a protective film left on the new rubber (wipe it with a damp cloth), a dirty windscreen with traffic film or polish residue on it, or the wrong size blade not sitting flat. Clean the glass with proper screen cleaner before blaming the blades.