For many Australians, it can be tempting to ignore any strange noises your car makes and simply drive until the wheels fall off. Vehicular maintenance is expensive but worthwhile and you will save yourself thousands down the track when it comes to the resale value of your vehicle. While generally you should take your car to a mechanic for major issues, there are also a few car maintenance tips you can follow before any red flags appear. To future-proof your car, here are our car maintenance tips for keeping your vehicle in tip-top condition.
Clean
This is a simple but overlooked aspect of car maintenance that can be done regularly and from home. While it’s easy to ignore a spill on the backseat or dust on your vents, keeping on top of general cleaning makes a huge difference in the resale value of a car. Used car buyers are naturally more drawn to cars that have been regularly cleaned as it indicates care and maintenance on the vehicle overall.
Parts of the car to clean regularly include:
- Windshields
- Wiper blades
- Number plates
- Lights
- Door mirrors
- Windows
- Seats
- Buttons
- Dashboard
Fluids
This aspect of car maintenance is potentially the easiest and the most important. Car fluids lubricate all the moving parts in your engine, so they don’t grind and tear themselves into dysfunction. Cars need many fluids to run properly including oil, coolant, brake fluid and power steering fluid. It’s easy to check the levels of these fluids yourself and save your car from potential breakdowns.
Tyre pressure
Tyre maintenance is a relatively easy at-home job. For those without experience with tyres, there are plenty of digital resources that teach tyre maintenance online. By prolonging the life of your tyres you will save yourself some money and time. Tyres with the correct pressure have a longer life and increase your fuel efficiency.
Battery
When turning off your car, any electrical equipment that hasn’t been turned off goes into standby mode so it turns on automatically when you next start the car. Standby mode draws a bit of power from the battery, so if the car isn’t used for a long time, your battery may go flat. Parts of a car that go into standby mode include lights, stereos, and air con. By turning your car off properly each time, you’ll save yourself the pain of sourcing a new battery and potentially avoid battery-related car problems.
Leave the leaves
As pretty as fallen leaves may be, they can cause a great amount of external damage to your car. While owners with street-parked cars often clear away the visible debris, it’s important to thoroughly remove leaves for the long term health of your vehicle. Leaf debris eventually turns into a slimy substance that can create rust on the outside of your car. A car with aesthetic damage is likely to be bought for less on the second hand market. If this isn’t incentive enough, mass amounts of leaves on a car are often inviting spots for Huntsman spiders.
Lights
Taking care of your headlights, tail lights and indicators is essential. Having working lights is a safety requirement that can often go overlooked. Test your indicators and headlights, including the high beams, regularly to make sure they’re always working at full capacity.
Maintain a schedule
Your vehicle’s owner manual is a foolproof guide to follow for keeping your car fit and healthy. The manual should give you a clear answer about how frequently you need to have your car serviced by a qualified mechanic.
For the best offer price on your used car, along with other car tips, check out the Prices People Pay Car2Cash service. We use statistical models that analyse millions of used car sales to determine the market value of your car. We’ve expertly identified the things that increase or decrease the value of your car which will determine the condition of your car and its market value.
