(Image Source: Flickr)
If you’re learning to drive, or you’ve passed your test recently and you’ve been driving for a little while now, you may have heard more experienced drivers (those who don’t tend to run their cars into the ground too often) talk about basic car maintenance. If you don’t want to be running to your local garage every so often and paying large amounts of money each time for problems that could have been avoided, read on. A simple tool kit can save you quite a lot…
Learn to do just a little bit of maintenance on your car, e.g. checking oil and water levels regularly, and checking tyre treads before an MOT or if they’re looking tired. All you need is a few basic tools to start and one of those plastic boxes you can pick up in virtually any DIY shop or supermarket to keep them in. Just remember that when it comes to the actual tools, the cheapest are not worth the trouble, as you’ll be replacing them too often.
Checking Your Oil and Antifreeze/Water Levels – Dipstick
You should check the oil and water levels at least once a week, and if you are planning a long trip. About the only tools for this that you will need to buy are a couple of cloths (oil gets very messy) and a funnel or two for oil and water if the levels are low. The oil should come up to the top-level mark on the dipstick when checked.
Spare Bulbs and Fuses
Today’s cars have a lot of electrical parts, and like everything of that nature, they can go wrong when least expected. Keep some spare bulbs and fuses in a small box in the boot of your car, just in case something goes when you’re out in the car. New drivers need to practice changing these before they need to do it when they are out. A metric socket set is also a good idea.
Spanners and Screwdriver
You can buy a decent set of metric combination spanners in a motor accessories shop or garage; you also need an 8in spanner that is adjustable. You should have a set of screwdrivers, usually nine in different sizes, and including a Phillips screwdriver and a Posidrive, and also a set of allen keys. A foot pump is useful; just a small one to give your tyres a bit of a boost.
Tyre Pressure Gauge
You should check your tyres’ air pressure on a regular basis, preferably once a week, as flat or under-inflated tyres are dangerous, and will use up more fuel.
There are lots of nuts and bolts on a car and it’s simply impossible to do any car maintenance without most of the above. A home car maintenance kit of this size should all fit into one medium sized plastic box.
Car maintenance may seem like an unnecessary chore to young, new drivers, but it can save quite a lot of money when the time for an MOT test comes around.
