1. Clean the inside and outside of your car every month. Seriously.
Why It’s Important: Keeping your car clean is like keeping your room clean, except everyone can see your car and gauge how dirty (or clean) you are. Grab ArmorAll’s cheap but awesome vacuum, to clean the inside of your car, a bottle of Optimum’s car wash for the outside of your car, and make your car look brand new.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: An unclean car will eventually attract dirt and grime that can damage your interior and exterior, and probably won’t earn you any extra props from that person you like.
2. Change your oil every 5,000 to 7,500 miles and use a reliable brand.
3. Check your tire pressure every month and rotate your tires every 7,500 miles.
4. Get your brake pads replaced every 25,000 miles or sooner if your brakes are wearing down.
Why It’s Important: It’s always a good idea to have your brakes checked out every so often by a professional, as a nasty grinding noise can bring an unpleasant worry.
A big part of this are the brake pads, which resist loss of brake power at high temperatures and can be replaced by a mechanic if needed.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: Neglecting your brake pads will eventually lead to your brake rotors failing, leading to a $300 to $600 replacement and at worst, an emergency you don’t want to deal with.
5. Make sure your mirrors are always good to go.
Why It’s Important: Having eyes in the back of your head would be the driving advantage, but unfortunately we’re only human and the next best thing we have are mirrors.
A good, clean set of front and rear view mirrors can save you from a lot of trouble on the road.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: Driving with dirty or no mirrors at all makes you everyone’s least favorite driver on the road, and that’s probably the last thing you want to be.
6. Maintain your car’s interior to keep its resale value high.
7. Change out any bad headlight bulbs as soon as you can.
Why It’s Important: Driving home in the dark can turn into an absolute nightmare if one of your headlights isn’t working correctly or showing a very dim light. Most of the time, this is caused by a dead headlight bulb, which can be checked and replaced with something like a Sylvania High Performance Bulb that’ll last much longer.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: You should never consider the risk of driving at night without proper headlights, and you’re also bound to be pulled over with the cops if you try. Generally, replacing a headlight bulb yourself is pretty simple and requires just a few steps and tools.
8. If you’re not going to drive your car for a while, make sure it’s properly stored.
9. Change your air filter every 30,000 miles or every year.
10. Get some Rain-X products for your windows to guard yourself from water.
Why It’s Important: Rain-X makes two products that deserve your attention, one being a spray for your car’s glass that repels rain and another being windshield wiper blades that do their job well. Spraying your car with Rain-X is pretty easy, while you should inspect your wipers every six months and change them if necessary.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: Rain-X isn’t essential for your car, but nothing beats the peace of mind you get watching rain drops fall of your windshield or watching your wipers deflect everything.
11. Check your spark plugs every 30,000 miles and replace them every 60,000 miles.
Why It’s Important: Spark plugs are necessary for any car to function well, and while most last for a long while, it’s still recommended you make sure yours aren’t affecting your engine as a whole. Every 30,000 miles, get yours checked out by a shop or dealer and make sure to replace them if they’ve gone bad.
The Cost Of Not Doing It: Bad spark plugs can lead to horrible gas mileage and a lack of acceleration, along with a whole host of other problems. Eventually, bad plugs can greatly impact an engine, leading to what could be a lot of troublesome repairs.
SOURCE: www.buzzfeed.com