Top car maintenance checks | Annual Checks

One of the most important aspects of owning a car is that you need to stay on top of your car maintenance checks otherwise owning a car can be very expensive. It is often said, ‘owning a car gives you the most freedom’, to travel whenever and wherever you wish to go but cars can be quite expensive to fix if you don’t do frequent car maintenance checks especially if your car is old or you purchased it secondhand and has high mileage (although this is not to say you shouldn’t maintain your new car).

I have been driving for over 6 years and in that time I have owned two cars, my first car was a secondhand car with less than 10k miles on it. I drove it for over a year before I sold it back to the dealership, I knew approximately how much I could get for the car but what was very important was the fact that I looked after my car very well and did frequent car maintenance checks. Obviously, most of us maintain our cars so we can either pass them on or sell them down the line.

When it comes time to sell your car, there are many things you need to consider especially if you wish to get a good rate. One of those ways is getting your number plate valued by experts to get an idea of how much your car could be worth. Ever since the DVLA started selling personalised number plates, there has been an influx of people choosing to personalise their number plates. The more unique your number plate the more it can sell it thereby also increasing the overall value of your car.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

Top car maintenance checks you should do

I must start by saying, I am no car expert but over the last 6+ years I have learned a number of things from my dad and friends about car maintenance checks. A couple years back I shared tips on essential car maintenance tips for beginners as I was a fairly new driver myself. When I shared those tips I was in the process of selling my first car and purchasing my second car which was a new car fresh off the production line. Because the car was new, I wanted to make sure I stayed on top of any maintenance I needed to do including checking the tyres, engine oil, windscreen washer and even the coolant.

Over the last 5 years I have been diligent in not only checking the car myself but also taking the car into my manufacturers dealership. Again, this is not to say you only need to take your car to the manufacturer’s dealership but it does come with its own perks including extending the car warranty with the manufacturer. Thanks to always been diligent with my frequent car checks, my car still runs like a smooth ship and I will continue to perform these checks until I either sell it or gift it to a family member.

The few car maintenance checks I am recommending in this post are those that I am familiar with but the list is not exhaustive and you should do your own research or take your car to the local garage.

• Check when your car is due for service – your manufacturer’s guide will give you specific guidance based on your car but annually is often recommended.
• Test your brakes – both the foot and handbrakes need to be checked more frequently. I check mine with every seasonal change as I don’t want either to not operate during an emergency.
• Check your lights and indicators – this can be tricky sometimes but I always check mine in mirrors or ask someone to confirm my indicators are working.
• Check your tyres – I was taught early on how to check the tyres and even top them up
• Top up engine oil and windscreen wash – whilst I am confident with windscreen wash, for the engine oil I let my dad or the garage take care of that for me.
• Check your battery – recommendation is to change your car battery every 3 years especially if you noticed your car engine turning over more slowly than usual.

There are many more tips that I can recommend but these are the top car maintenance checks that I often do. I highly recommend that you pay attention to the dashboard messages that often flash when there is something wrong with the car like low pressure in tyres etc. Now, share with me, how often you perform your car checks and what else you would recommend is on everyone’s list.