As soon as your new car leaves the dealership, it starts to depreciate in value; however, you can decrease the rate at which it depreciates so that when you decide to sell it, you can get a good deal on it. Such a decrease in the rate of depreciation comes with taking a good care of your car. Maintaining a good condition of your car will also save you money at the repair shop besides maintaining the value of the car.
The first mistake that car owners can make is when they ignore warning lights. Each of these warning lights has a significance and must not be ignored in any case. While if you ignore a check engine light, it will not do you much harm as the problem behind it can be as trivial as a component not working properly, a tire pressure monitoring system can render safety problems for you. Even if the issue is small, do get it checked before it exacerbates into a bigger issue.
Sometimes when you are travelling on the road, it is impossible to avoid potholes; however, whenever you can avoid them, do so. Hitting potholes can damage suspension components and your wheels and your car can go out of alignment. Best way to avoid them is to go for those roads that do not have them and if you have to face a pothole, be sure to slow down the car.
Moreover, whenever the time comes always make sure to change the engine oil and it is usually mentioned in the owner’s manual when to change it. If you fail to change the engine oil and oil filters in a timely manner, you can run the risk of incurring some costly damage. Another way to prevent damaging your car is to ensure that you engage the emergency brake/parking brake when you park the car. Relying only on the transmission to hold your car still will lead to some costly damage to the car and is also conducive to a safety hazard. Even if you have an automatic car, leaving the car in the parking mode can exert undue pressure on the transmission.
Another way can be to regularly wash your car as it gets rid of the chemicals and dust particles that can cause damage to your car. You should also take your car to a car wash at least once a month for a thorough cleaning of the car. Things like tree sap and salt can eat away the paint of your car and it is better to keep your car clean from all these substances. Waxing your car is also a good way to preserve the paint as the wax forms a protective barrier against substances like dust and dirt. Without waxing, the color of your car can become dull over time.
One of the ways in which you can damage your car is not driving it enough. If your car stays idle in the garage for a very long period of time, its gas will become stale, batter will die and tires will also incur some damage. It is good to take your car out for a spin to get its fluids flowing and battery to get recharged.
Sometimes people do not get small chips in the windshield repaired and the chips develop into bigger and deeper cracks. As a result, you will have to get the entire windshield replaced and that is costly. Catering to small chip swill save you from replacing the whole thing. People also damage their cars by putting on wrong tires that can adversely affect the powertrain and the handling of the car. If you are not getting your wheels aligned, you are looking into handling issues, drifting off the road and wearing of suspension parts. Furthermore, if you are putting on aftermarket parts, make sure that you do not alter the integral parts of the car like suspension and engine parts. Changes to these parts can lead to lower market price of your car if you ever desire to sell it.
Also make sure that you get any dents or other collision damages repaired promptly before a small amount of damage exacerbates into something big and expensive to get repaired. Parking your car outside the garage will expose it to harsh weather conditions and can damage the paint over time. So make sure to find a garage and park your car in it. Whenever you are driving a manual car, make sure you keep the car in neutral when you are at a stop sign or waiting for someone. Always slow down whenever you are passing over speed bumps as trying to cross them at high speeds can lead to under body damage and can break suspension parts.
For more information on cars and other vehicles being sold in Pakistan visit OLX Pakistan’s website. OLX is an online market place that sells a diverse category of products from automobiles to real estate and mobile phones.
Leave a Reply