'I've been a mechanic for 55 years - I'll never buy a new or used car that's missing one vital feature'

A popular mechanic on YouTube has warned motorists eyeing up a new set of wheels to check whether their prospective purchase has an important maintenance feature before buying.

While cars are becoming more and more technologically advanced, many new models are missing a simple yet handy analogue component that makes upkeep easy and affordable.

Scotty Kilmer, who has been a mechanic for over 55 years, warns in a recent video that a growing number of vehicles are missing a dipstick to check oil levels. Instead, you're supposed to rely on the vehicle's censors to tell you when you need to top up instead - which are often unreliable and inaccurate.

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He explained: "Today I'm going to show you why not to buy a car that doesn't have an oil dipstick. Now, most vehicles have an oil dipstick so you can measure the oil, but there's a bad trend amongst expensive European cars and a lot of them are removing the oil dipstick.

"If you don't have a dipstick, you can't tell the true level [of the oil], you can't tell how dirty it is. Hey, that's why they [manufacturers] put them in. It's very important to have full, clean oil."

The majority of vehicles that feature a petrol or diesel engine come with a dipstick that can be removed by owners in order to check how much oil is in the sump and whether it needs to be replaced, reports the Express.

However, a growing number of models no longer feature an oil dipstick under the bonnet in order to save money when producing the vehicle and to encourage owners to take the vehicle to a specialist for maintenance and repairs.

Instead, these vehicles feature sensors that will regularly monitor the level of oil inside the vehicle. However, Scotty warned that, if they fail, owners could be left with badly lubricated engine components that wear at a faster rate, causing expensive repair bills.