There is nothing quite like the excitement of finally getting your first car. The independence that comes with being able to drive yourself anywhere you need to go in your very own car is a rite of passage for many people and is certainly a feeling that you will never forget. However, it is also important to not forget the fact that taking care of a car is a big responsibility.
Not only does routine maintenance on your car need to be done in order to protect the investment that has been made in purchasing it, but it is also a matter of safety. Without keeping an eye on the key maintenance tasks, you can, unfortunately, make it more likely that you will get into an accident. At the very least, ignoring routine maintenance on your car can result in some costly repairs down the road.
In order to keep your car running as smoothly and safely as possible, here are three routine car maintenance tasks that you should never ignore.
1. Checking Your Tires
Checking your tires on a routine basis is one of the most important things you can do for your car as well as for your own safety. Tires that don’t have enough air in them, have a slow leak, or don’t have enough tread left on them can all too easily be the cause of an accident. You want to be able to drive your car knowing that the tires it is running on are completely safe for the road.
Every few weeks, you should check to make sure that there is enough tread on your tires. If your car isn’t equipped with a digital PSI reader, you should invest in a handheld one so that you can make sure your tires have enough air in them as well.
If at any point it becomes necessary to change your tires, you can use a Tirerack coupon to help with the cost. Being afraid of changing your tires because of the expense is no excuse to compromise on safety.
2. Oil Level
Another thing that you will need to keep an eye on is the oil level in your car. This is easily done by checking the dipstick under the hood of your car. Failure to keep oil levels adequate can result in some serious damage to your engine, so make sure to do this every month to ensure that your car has enough oil.
3. Lights
You already know that your car is equipped with a variety of lights that are essential to driving safely. From your headlights that help you see in the dark to your taillights that indicate that you a breaking, your car’s lights are crucial to road safety. However, you obviously can’t see how well these are working from behind the wheel.
For this reason, you should test your lights on a routine basis when the car is parked. You might need a friend to help with this, but make sure you do so every few months to ensure that you will never run into a problem where the lights don’t work.
