Unfortunately many people neglect the most basic of car maintenance tasks and then wonder why the car breaks down on them. Your vehicle has an engine and many moving parts. These need to be lubricated and kept cool in order for them to function correctly.

While your car engine is designed to handle these challenges there are times when it needs a little help. One of the best ways you can help your car is to ensure the necessary maintenance is completed.

Washing Your Car

You need to wash your car regularly. Dirt can damage the electrical components in your vehicle resulting in a breakdown. In fact bird droppings can actually corrode your paintwork; this will ruin the look of your car and expose the metal work to the elements; encouraging rust.

You can wash your car at home every week with your bucket of hot soapy water. Alternatively you can pop into your local car wash and drive it through the machine.

Unfortunately neither of these options is as good and as effective as the drive by car wash. This company will actually visit your car wherever you’ve parked it. They’ll then clean and polish it until it looks like it has come off the showroom floor.  They won’t just clean the bits that you can see; they’ll clean the entire vehicle.

The best part is that you don’t need to do anything; you don’t even need to watch.

Fluids

Your car needs oil to ensure the moving parts do so smoothly ad don’t grind. Grinding equates to engine failure.  It also needs water. You can check the water level by removing the expansion tanks lid. However, you must do this when the car is cold. If you do it with a hot engine you’ll get a rush of steam and boiling hot water which can cause serious injury.

Other basic checks include the tire pressures, tread and even the function of the lights.

Again this is a job you can do yourself or something that you can have done by a professional on a regular basis.

Visual Inspection

A chip in your paintwork can attract moisture and start the rusting process. Just because you’ve never bumped your car doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t bumped you or opened their door onto your car.

To make sure there are no chips of paint missing you need to visually inspect your vehicle every week. This will enable you to spot and issue and have it treated before it becomes a bigger issue.

Service

Every moving part in your vehicle relies on grease to keep it moving. This is why you need to check the movement in key parts regularly. If there is an issue the part will need to be cleaned and greased. This will hopefully prevent the need to replace parts.

If you’re not comfortable doing this type of check yourself then you can take it to a professional to have it done for you.