Empowering Yourself... Right into the Driver's Seat

I read YET ANOTHER post today about the cost of car repairs.  With folks trying to meet the demands of food, shelter, etc. it's understandable that there is often little to nothing left for even the most routine of car repairs!  And let's face it, most of us can't do without their vehicles!

So what do you do?  What can you do for yourself?  How do you put yourself back in the driver's seat, so to speak?

Several years ago I read a really great book about car care.  It was titled...Lucille's Car Care: Everything You Need to Know from Under the Hood-By America's Most Trusted Mechanic  by Lucille Treganowan.  Lucille's inspiration for writing the book sprung from a time in her life when "necessity became the mother of invention".  As a divorcee with small children, she needed to take the bull by the horns.... and she did!

This book taught me how every system in my car worked.  It empowered me to to be able to understand what I could and couldn't do in maintaining my own car.  It also taught me how to talk to the mechanics about which repairs were NEEDED.  I quickly figured out the power in knowledge! Mechanics often change their tunes when I speak their language or ask literate questions!

For example. if I take my van in for a repair and the mechanic says I also need a new air filter.  Instead of saying "yes" and being charged for the filter of their choice AND the labor to install it,  I now say "thank you, I'll take care of that".  I then go to a parts store or the parts department at Walmart and get the filter I need... labor is FREE! 

Don't get me wrong, I can't swap out an engine and I don't think I could rebuild a transmission, but I can do some things... and every dollar saved is worth it!