Judging by the fact that you’ve clicked on this link, I’m going to assume that you’ve realized you’re going to have to do some work on your car at some point. The good news is that it’ll save you lots of money in the long run, save time, prevent breakdowns and can be quite therapeutic! Learn the Basics of Car MaintenanceIf you consider yourself a bit of a handyman/woman you can save a serious amount of cash by learning how to do the basic maintenance and service jobs. Changing oil, filling up coolant/wiper fluid/brake fluid, checking tire pressure are all relatively simple tasks that don’t require an expert or expert tools. Once you start doing these small tasks you’ll be surprised at how much work you can do on your car yourself, I sure did (unfortunately your family and friends will come running soon after). Soon you’ll be changing light bulbs, spark plugs, batteries, you name it! Buying these small parts from stock websites such as https://www.breakeryard.com/car-parts/citroencan save you a fortune, even if you buy the parts yourself and take them to a mechanic to get fitted. Just remember that bigger jobs like tires and brakes are do-able at home, but only if you have the knowledge and skill to do.Understand How Often to Undertake Maintenance Any smart person will tell you to have your car serviced every X amount of time. A car that runs well is serviced often. This includes a list of smaller checks and top-ups, many of which are easy to do at home, such as changing engine oil every 5000 miles, replacing brake pads every 15 000 miles, cleaning, changing/cleaning air filters every 30 000 miles and topping up antifreeze every 15 000. Cleaning may seem like it’s unrelated to how your car performs, but it’s important to understand how grit and grime can wear away at your paint and even your engine. Air filters are a great example of this. Imagine your hoover – If you don’t clean out the filter for months, the motor will get hotter and hotter each use. Eventually, it could even burn out. You don’t particularly want that to happen to your engine.Preventative MeasuresWhy would you ever need to maintain something if there was a process to prevent it from happening entirely? This is why antifreeze exists, simply to prevent the fluids in your engine from overheating or freezing. Every maintenance job is technically a preventative measure – preventing you from breaking down, but there are more ways to keep your car healthy. If you plan on not driving for a long period of time, store your car correctly to prevent damage or a dead battery. Run the car from time to time, a quick drive out will prevent any locking of the brakes, top up the battery and generally just keep the car alive. If you can’t store the car somewhere, throw a cover over it if possible. It might look silly, but who’ll look silly when their car starts to rust?