Auto Parts: Just the Parts You Need

With the sky-high prices of professional car repair, DIY car maintenance is perhaps the only practical solution. After all, a big chunk of what professional auto centers charge is a service fee to pay for the labor of the technicians and mechanics. If you're fine with the idea of getting down and dirty with your car, doing the repairs and the maintenance yourself is a much cheaper alternative. There are several routine procedures that don't really need a lot of technical know-how to do; just an auto part, the right tools and about an hour of your time will suffice.

Fix Your Own Filters

Replacing old and worn fuel or oil filters is one of the more common items in any car maintenance checklist. It's a little pricey to have to go to the auto shop for this replacement, though, because the auto shops' labor charge often exceeds the cost of the part itself! Because you have to replace your filters every 3,000 miles or so, those charges for labor can really add up. DIY filter replacement, as you could probably imagine, can and will save you quite a bit of money.

To replace your own filters, all you'll need to get is the filter itself. This will cost you as low as $5 for the oil filter or $15 for the fuel filter. When getting replacement filters, make sure to get the one that's specifically for your car's make and model because the specifications vary. The filters come with handy replacement instructions. No rocket science there!

Bring In New Brakes

Changing your car's brakes is another common car care procedure. Because it's so common, auto shops tend to charge a lot on brake replacement services as well. Just like the filter replacement, it's something you have to do regularly - every 12,000 miles - so doing it yourself saves you a lot of money in the long run.

The auto shops can charge as much as $200 to change your brakes when you can buy the parts yourself for as low as a measly $35. Yes, they charge that much. They also tend to use or recommend more expensive or higher-end parts because they make better profit margins on them.

Although you're most likely going to change just the brakes in front, you'll be buying a boxed set of brake items. That set should include the brake pads themselves, a set of secondary parts and, oftentimes, some lubricating powder. Aside from the set of parts itself, you're going to need some basic tools like wrenches, which you're likely to find in your garage or toolbox.

Changing the brakes and replacing the filters aren't the only things you'll have to do regularly to maintain your car. There are also things like oil changes, hose changes, belt replacements and so on. Having all of those maintenance procedures done at the auto shop will end up costing you a lot in labor. Why pay all that extra money when you can do it yourself?