20 Essential Car Maintenance Tips

The modern automobile is no longer just a piece of luxury that only individuals of stature can have the bragging rights of owning. Almost everyone, every family, has a vehicle to call their own. For many, it has become an important extension of their house. Some have even decided to forego with the whole house ownership idea and instead opt for a mobile home, giving them the freedom to ‘live’ wherever their vehicles take them. For many, it’s an important part of business, providing mobility when public transportation simply isn’t the best choice.

For others, it’s the best way to enjoy the many beautiful sights and experiences the world has to offer.  Whatever the reason, the vehicle is here to stay and will continue to be a very important part of man’s evolutionary development. That is why it is imperative to keep your car in tip-top shape so you’ll get to enjoy all the benefits that you derive from it.

We have prepared a very comprehensive car maintenance checklist to help you keep your vehicle in optimum operating performance.

Importance of Car Maintenance

Like we already said, there are a lot of reasons why you need to employ even basic car maintenance. We have listed below some of the more compelling reason why maintaining your car is very important.

• Improves safety 

As we shall learn later on, making a comprehensive car maintenance checklist and adhering to it can help make your vehicle run a lot more efficiently. More importantly, however, is that we can help ensure that all of the critical components of the vehicle are running smoothly or functioning optimally. This helps us improve safety while driving, although accidents can still occur through no fault of our own. Every day, hundreds of people die because of traffic accidents secondary to a faulty brake system, poor tire treads, and worn out drive belts, just to name a few. Thousands more lay in hospital beds nursing their injuries and tens of thousands more are trying to overcome the emotional trauma brought about by such accidents. Basic car maintenance, while it doesn’t prevent accidents directly, can help improve our safety and that of others whenever we take to the road.

• Enhances reliability and performance 

Certain components of our car are naturally more vulnerable to wear. By performing regular maintenance checks, we can help ensure the optimum functioning of these parts so that when we do need them, we’ll feel more confident that these parts will pull us through out of any given situation.

• Saves you expensive repair costs 

How much does an average car maintenance cost? The actual cost actually depends on the type of vehicle, your driving habits, and the various types of products that you use in your maintenance. To give you an idea, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it usually costs about $8,000 to own and operate an average vehicle. This is broken down into $3,800 as the average cost of purchasing a vehicle while the remaining will be broken down into motor oil and gasoline expenses as well as other vehicle-related costs. This is under normal operating conditions. Suppose your car has a damaged engine because of failure to do basic maintenance, you’re actually looking at several thousands of dollars more in repairs. Sometimes, the cost of major repair will be more than 50% of the cost it would take you to purchase a new vehicle of the same model and make. Performing regular maintenance checks can help you avoid costly repairs from major problems.