Routine

I was just sitting here wondering how much money I saved over the years working on my own car. Especially performing routine services such as oil changes. My usual routine is to order my parts for the oil change and go home and do it. I would buy the same old oil and filter by remembering their part numbers. Then proceed home and grab the same sized wrench, crawl underneith, drain the oil, change the filter then tighten up the drain plug. Its finished in less than 5 minutes! I just saved my self another $25!

Of course while I was waiting for the oil to drain I would give the underneith a quick visual. I would look at the exhaust pipes, inside tire wear, leaks of any kind, and grease the 2 lube zerks I had from the factory. Remember most newer cars come from the factory with no zerks to lube. (my thinking behind that is to have your suspension components go bad earlier than what they were designed for so you can return to the dealer for New tie rod ends, ball joints, pitman arms and idler arms etc.)

Anyways back to the point here. If you have a routine for your car repairs such as oil changes, fuel and air filters, belts and hoses and fluids, then you will be able to complete your repairs without even realizing how much money you are saving along the way!

Keeping your part numbers and vehicle information handy is a time saving task. I was tired of being asked My year Make and Model along with my Engine size before getting to my parts. So now I have created my own folder on my desktop with all this information along with others. Such as my vehicles Vin. number.(vehicle identification number)  I found if you walk into a parts store with just your Vin. number they can tell alot of things about your car from that. Perhaps even the color of your car as well as how many doors you have. Maybe even who has all been in your car for the past 30 days! ( I think im stretching it a little bit here now)

One of these days I will slow down enough in my life to figure out on paper the exact amount of money saved. In the mean time check out Amazon's Parts Finder section and get the right parts you need to complete your routine car repair services! These guys are great and know their PARTS!

Happy Driving!