We all love saving money, so why not save money by just doing routine car maintenance?
If you are doing regular maintenance on your vehicle, it will last you a long while. Check your owners manual for a maintenance schedule designed specifically for your vehicle. Don't have an owners manual? Check out our General Maintenance Schedule.
Visually inspect.
Before you get in, take a look around your vehicle. Inspect the tires, look for any leaks, check to make sure you don't have any hanging wires or exhaust. Make sure all of your lights work. A simple check-over can keep money in your pocket down the road. A burnt out taillight can go from a $10 bulb replacement to a $100 ticket plus $10 to fix the bulb.
Tires.
Rotate your tires at least once a year, or every 15k-30k miles. This will help you get more life out of your tires, inspect for uneven wear and give you a chance to check the brakes. Check your tires using the "penny trick" to see how much tread you have left on your tires. Look for dry rotting and cracking to avoid a possible blow out on the highway.
Check the tires for uneven wear to fix an underlying costly suspension problem.
Brakes.
You should replace your brakes every 12 months or 12k miles. Regular brake maintenance can prevent unnecessary wear and damage to your calipers and rotors. If a brake pad wears down too much, it can rip right out of the caliper. In some cases, it can lock the tire and cause severe strain on your vehicle and break other parts in the process. Check here to find out if you need brakes. Due to neglect in the picture above, this person needed to replace a brake pad, brake rotor and brake caliper, just on this one side. On average the cost of one set of brake pads are $50 - $80, the average cost of a brake rotor is $50 - $100 and the average cost of a brake caliper is $60 - $200 , not including labor. If this person had stayed on top of routine maintenance for their vehicle they only would have had to pay (on average) $50 - $80 for parts. Unfortunately, now the bill is higher.
Tune Up.
A tune-up should be done every 2 years. It will help your engine perform better with a cleaner spark. A tune-up will also help put less strain on your engine.
Oil Changes.
Scheduled oil changes prevents gunk buildup on the inside of your engine. Having fresh oil gives a clean lubrication and puts less strain on your engine. Oil changes should be done every 3 months or 3k miles.
Fluid Checks.
You should check your fluids monthly. This will help to notice if you are leaking any fluid, when you have to consistently add fluid or if your fluids are mixing, like coolant mixing with oil.
If you keep up with the maintenance on your vehicle, the money you spend now, will be much less compared to the money you will have to spend in the future. Putting off repairs is like ignoring the first signs of a cold. It's only going to get worse, the longer you wait.
J&S FixQuik Automotive | Mobile Auto Repair | Aurora, IL
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