People love cars and the love to their cars can make them act somewhat irrationally. Many people succumb to wasting money unnecessarily, because they think that they are doing the best for their cars. It is important to avoid wastes and it is actually possible to save money, while maintaining good appearance of our car. One common thing that people may do is that they choose gasoline at higher octane value recommended. By choosing premium gasoline, we couldn’t guarantee that our car would last longer. In fact, it is better to choose regular gasoline and save the money to perform needed maintenance tasks. Premium gasoline is intended to prevent knocking on expensive cars and it doesn’t give our engine a special treatment. Our car won’t run more efficiently, longer and better. Other thing that we do is making aggressive oil changes. Due to their love to their cars, these people could change oil more often than needed. Most of the time, we are advised to make oil changes after 3,000 miles. In some cars, we are allowed to have longer intervals at 5,000 or 7,500 miles. In this case, we should know about the recommendation of the manufacturer and avoid making more changes than needed.
Without proper knowledge, chances are; we overpay on maintenance and repair tasks. We should be aware that prices of dealer-level parts can be quite high. In this case, we shouldn’t hesitate to shop around, although it can be time consuming and inconvenient. Another thing to help us reduce maintenance costs is by making small repairs on our own. As an example, w should know how to change a flat tire and it isn’t necessary to call a mechanic to our location. We shouldn’t be afraid to make common repairs and it is a good idea to seek help from trusted friends. In many cases, we could get a lot of information by simply reading the instructional manual. There are steps that we can follow to perform multiple maintenance and repair tasks at home. Most of the steps are easy to do and require only basic tools, as well as some common sense. We may also spend too much money and waste time in a long line, only to get our car washed with soapy, grey water. We often can get good results by performing regular cleaning tasks. Instead of wasting money on car wash, we could invest on car wash soap, bucket and towel.
Many car owners also assume that they should buy the whole set of new tires, four plus one spare. Often, we could only purchase two new tires and replace the most worn out. By having some common sense, we should be able to save money and prioritize on the most important things.