What’s the most Important Car Maintenance?

When it comes to maintenance it can be difficult to decide what is the most important car maintenance.  If you’re like most of us, you’ve had to make the decision on what type of maintenance to do now and what can be put off until later.  To help you make that decision, we’re going to break important car maintenance down into a few categories and importance levels so you can quickly make the decision next time you get the diagnosis from your mechanic.

Important Car Maintenance Categories

1. Safety
2. Longevity
3. Convenience

Safety

Safety should be your number 1 priority when budgeting for vehicle maintenance.  Some things can be obvious like making sure all your brakes are working.  Other things may not be so obvious like good windshield wipers, all of your exterior lights working, or tire pressure.  The best way to tell if something is a safety issue is by asking “Will this cause an unexpected or dangerous condition for me or drivers around me?”  Dangerous conditions can be easy to spot like a crack in your windshield in your line of sight or completely bald tires.  Unexpected conditions can include things like a tire blow-out due to low pressure or your engine seizing due to low oil level.  It’s wide to fix safety issues as quickly as possible to protect you, those riding in your car, and those driving near you.

Longevity

Once you’ve got all your safety repairs taken care of, you can start looking at repairs for longevity.  These are often not “repairs” per se but can just be regular maintenance.  Things like changing your transmission or power steering fluid even though everything is working correctly won’t make your vehicle safer to drive but will make it last longer.  Keeping your suspension components in good condition also fits in this category because worn suspension usually won’t make your car safer to drive but can reduce tire wear and wear on other components.  Making longevity repairs can also include flushing your cooling system, cleaning your fuel system, or fixing any small leaks that have been going on for a while.

Convenience 

These types of repairs are really only worth doing if you plan on keeping your car for a long time.  Things like fixing small dings and dents or repair rips or tears in your interior fall into this category.  This can also include modifications like performance modifications, new audio/visual equipment, or lighting upgrades.  If you’re ready to make modifications like this it can often be smart to start at your local customs shop to get an idea of what is available for your vehicle.