Five Steps To Reducing The Amount Of Money You Spend On Car Maintenance

By : Steve Carr   
Submitted 2010-10-31 15:53:21 If you're finding that you're spending a lot of money on car maintenance, check out these five steps to help you reduce the amount of money you spend.

1. Buy a new car - if you buy a new car fresh off the production line, you'll find that you have next to no maintenance costs.

Aside from the fact that almost any problem that the car has will be fixed under the manufacturer's warranty, as the car is so new, there isn't going to be any problems that would need repairing that you would find in some older cars, such as small dents and scratches or worn interior.

2. Have it professionally serviced once a year - it might cost several hundreds of pounds depending on what car you have and whether you decide to go to a main dealer or not, but it's strongly recommended that you have your car professionally serviced once a year.

This may seem like nothing more than a routine 'check up', especially if your car doesn't cover a lot of miles and for some, this is all it will be. However, others will see a distinct rise in performance after a service, whether that's in the way that the car accelerates or in the coolness of the air conditioning.

3. Service it yourself annually - mid-way through the year between your car's last service and its next service, it's advised that you give the car a service yourself.

You don't need to change every part of the car that a garage would change during a service if it's not needed, but it's good practice to change the oil and filter and at least check every other part - the air filter, for example, might not need changing normally, but if you've been driving a lot more miles than normal, you may see an increased level of performance if you do.

4. Wash it regularly - it might sound a little odd, but if you spend the time once a week giving your car a good wash, you can ensure that the paintwork does not become affected by anything that's been spilled or dropped on it, which can occasionally require for you to invest in some high quality - and expensive - paint repair products.

5. Buy official parts - imagine you drove away from Mercedes-Benz dealers six months ago with a brand new E-Class and something - that you can fix - goes wrong with it.

There are two options available to you, with the first being for you to source a replacement piece yourself, whether it's through a specific dealer or an online auction website. This is usually the cheapest option and the parts will often be mass produced and made to fit a variety of different car models.

The second option is to go to official Mercedes-Benz dealers and order the part direct from the manufacturer.

Whilst the first option might seem like the cheapest initially, not only is the second likely to be a lot cheaper than you assume (if the products are coming direct from the manufacturer, they're likely to be sold at a little over cost price), but as it's the official part, chances are it will last longer, unlike the third party one, which might need replacing after the car has been used regularly.

Furthermore, use third party parts and you might be validating your manufacturer's warranty.

Four Things You Should Know How To Do That Will Help Reduce Your Car Maintenance Costs

If you're the type of person who drives away from BMW dealers without thinking about car maintenance costs, taking your car back to the garage whenever it needs something doing to it, check through these four points to help you reduce the amount of money that you spend maintaining your car.

1. Change the oil - when changing the oil is mentioned, a lot of people instantly assume that they can't do it themselves as it's too technical and leave it for a garage to do.

The truth is that the process is a lot easier than you're likely to think and is simply matter of unscrewing the plug on the bottom of the oil tank and letting the old oil drain out in full before you replace the plug and top it up with new oil.

You can even change the oil filter if you so wish, as it's a process that requires for you to do nothing more than unscrew, by hand, the old oil filter and screw in the new one.

2. Change a wheel - whilst a lot of people think they know how to change a car wheel, when they come to do it, it's not as easy you first think and requires for you to have gone through the process once to know how to do it effectively.

One of the most common mistakes that people make is by jacking the car up first and then attempting to loosen the wheel nuts. Whilst this in theory is possible, you'll find it a lot easier if you loosen the nuts slightly when the car is on the ground and then continue unscrewing them once the car is jacked up.

3. Check your tyres - there's two parts related to this point, both of which some people might take as a given and something that they do regularly, but there'll be plenty of others that don't know how to do either.

The first point is to know your car's correct tyre pressure. Keep in mind that this isn't how you actually inflate your tyres, but what the correct pressure should be.

Not every car is the same (in fact, not every tyre on your car will be the same) and it's therefore recommended to increase the life of your tyres, as well as to aid with maintaining an optimum miles per gallon ratio, you know exactly what level your tyres should be inflated to.

The second part is to be able to know when your tyres need changing due to having insufficient tread.

Yes, everyone will be able to pick out a bald tyre against a tyre with tread, but do you know that the minimum amount of tread you can have on your tyres, by law, is 1.6milimetres, but that it's recommended to change them when it's 3mm? This is because your car can take an extra 26 foot to stop when travelling at 50 miles per hour if your tyres only have 1.6milimetres of tread on them.

4. Check your lights - this might seem like a plain and simple one that everyone can do, but imagine you're checking your lights; how do you do it?

Chances are you'll turn your lights on, put your hazards on and walk around the car, checking that they're all bright enough and none of them are faulty or not working all together.

Sound about right?

What about your full beams?

And you can't forget the light bulb that illuminates your rear registration plate - if this is out, your car will fail its MOT.