Do It Yourself Car Repair


One way to keep your automotive costs down is by doing maintenance and simple repairs yourself. I’m not mechanically inclined but I’ve found that with the help of a repair manual I’m able to do simple repairs that save me a lot of money compared to what they would cost to have done at a repair shop. The most popular paper manuals are Chilton and Haynes. If you’re lucky you might be able to find the necessary manual at your local library. I haven’t tried the Alldata online manual but it is recommended by many. The drawback is you have to subscribe to it yearly.

Recently I changed my spark plugs and installed new front brake pads. Changing the spark plugs was very easy yet it would have cost me at least $60 to have them done at a garage. Replacing the brake pads was more difficult but since I saved about $100 doing it myself it was well worth the effort. I spent about $80 doing the two repairs. The cost would have been much less but I had to buy the manual plus some tools. My future repairs will be even cheaper. Using a repair manual and doing your own car repairs can save you some significant money.

13 thoughts on “Do It Yourself Car Repair”

  1. Hey, again! Check your local library for online resorces , ask the librarian about it. our library has all the Chilton repair books online for us to use & other auto repair stuff too. lisa

  2. Lisa- Thanks for commenting. I’ll check that site out. The reason you couldn’t see your comments is because they were in moderation. Now that I’ve approved your initial comments you shouldn’t have to wait for your comments to be moderated in the future.

    • That is a good idea. I’m sure there are many people like me who live in apartments and can’t work on their car or would have to spend a lot on tools just to get started. I would be worried about liability though. I’m assuming you have that covered.

Comments are closed.