10 Money-Saving Tips For Maintaining Your Car For Students

Students typically have more expenses than their budget can handle. Since car maintenance can be quite costly, adding car repairs to the list can dry out your money supply.

But what if you could take cost-efficient measures and decrease your expenses for maintaining your car?

Well, you can make this dream-like situation a reality by adopting the right practices. Your student wallet will be unburdened with the help of the following money-saving tips for maintaining your car.

1. Keep Your Maintenance Regular

You can look at car maintenance as going to the dentist. If you brush, floss, and regularly get dental check-ups, several cavities won’t blindside you. The same applies to your car. If you take care of it properly and timely take it to a mechanic, your costs will decrease.

To prolong the engine's life, you should change your oil as frequently as you can. After 3,000 miles, you should change the oil filter and oil. This rule will decrease engine wear as well as your costs for repairs.

2. Tune Your Car

Tuning your car can improve your car’s performance, durability, and fuel efficiency. This should be enough to interest you in getting your car tuned. So, keep up with needed and recommended tune-ups.

If you have no experience with car tuning, you want to inquire what kind of improvements you should make. Whether you need ECU remapping, chip tuning, or tuning a carburetor, you better make that investment now and save through improved car performance.

3. Check and Change Air Filters

Add to your schedule a monthly air filter check. It may need a simple cleaning, or you might need to replace it. Anyways, you should make sure that your filter is good to go.

Keeping your filter clean and functional will prolong the engine’s life. There is also the fact that a dirty filter can reduce gasoline mileage.

4. Choose Your Gas Right

When it comes to gas, you should stick to what the owner’s manual says. So, if you think that premium gasoline will do wonders for your car, you should reconsider your beliefs. Unless the owner’s manual states that you should use a high-octane gas, you can stick to the regular gas.

Premium gas costs much more than the regular one, even though it doesn’t offer benefits for most cars. Therefore, you can save around 20-30% on gas if you follow the manual and tank the regular gas.

5. Keep an Eye on the Tire Pressure and Balance

Under-inflation can lead to a loss in gasoline mileage. In fact, if your tire pressure isn’t right, this can lower gas mileage by about 0.2% for every 1 psi drop. The save on regular tire check-ups can rise to $400 per year.

But that’s not all. Checking your tire pressure and regularly inflating will make the tires last longer and make your drive safer.

Speaking of tires, while checking the pressure, remember to balance them every year. If you don’t get your tires properly balanced, this can damage the suspension system and wear out the shock absorbers.

6. Check the Fluid Levels

If you want your car to last longer, you need to check your fluids. Regular inspection can also improve your fuel economy. That should be more than a good reason to keep track of what needs to be refilled.

Besides the engine oil, the essential fluids you need to keep at the proper level are:

• Coolant
• Power steering fluid
• Brake fluid
• Transmission fluid

It won’t take you much time to look under the hood and see if anything needs a quick refill. An editor at TopWritersReview said that this simple routine helped him keep his car out of repair shops and save a few hundred dollars per year.

7. Don’t Go to the Dealer for Repairs

Car dealer’s prices for maintenance and repairs are notably higher compared to mechanics. Some people trust only the dealers, but independent mechanics can do as good a job but with a smaller bill.

The amount you can save on going to a small mechanic shop can mean a lot for your school expenses. Whether you want to hire LetsGradeIt for your next essay assignment or you are saving for a trip, you’ll save up for whatever you need.

8. Find a Good Mechanic

A good mechanic is a crucial part of money-saving on car maintenance. If you take your car to the first repair shop you see, your car repair costs can double.

Ask around about a good mechanic. Don’t let yourself be swooned by flashy advertisements. A word-of-mouth recommendation is most likely to help you find quality and affordable service.

In case you can’t get a recommendation, ask what the cost and how much they’ve charged for parts and labor. Collect different estimates and make a decision.

9. Get Used Parts

Some used parts can serve a good purpose – as good as new. For example, if you need a new rear-view mirror or interior part, find a used part in good condition for a replacement.

There are online used-parts stores you can check out, or you can head to a local vehicle-salvage yard. You can save a decent amount if you give up on buying all new parts.

10. Take the Dashboard Malfunction Indicator Light

It can seem so easy just to block out that little light on the dashboard. However, ignoring that signal can lead to big problems and huge repair expenses.

When the malfunction indicator light report lights up, head to a mechanic to look into it. The sooner you identify and fix the problem, the cost will be lower.

Final Thoughts

The small efforts you invest today in car maintenance will pay off in the long run. A strategic plan here and a smart, cost-effective choice there, and your expenses will decrease. So, adopt these tips and let them save you some money.

Merissa Moore is a writer and editor who focuses on content. Thanks to her in-depth researching and exceptional writing abilities, she converted her greatest love – writing – into a job. Her curious mind and proper investigation have led her to work as a writer in a variety of fields. Merissa is always striving to improve her expertise by attending conferences and workshops. She adores hiking and reading in her free time.