Whether you are a car enthusiast or just a basic driver trying to know a little bit more about cars, there are a few different things that you should begin to learn. We’re not saying that you must be a professional at doing all these things, but getting an idea of what needs to be done and how is a great idea in case you ever got yourself in a sticky situation.

Oil Change

Knowing when it is time to change your oil is quite important. If the oil is too low, or if the car has dirty oil, it will cause excessive wear to the engine. In turn, it will cause grinding, seizing up, or stalling the automobile. How can you tell the condition of your oil? Learn how to read a dipstick. A dipstick tells you if your car has too little or too much oil or how bad the oil is. If it’s time to change your oil, then it’s a good idea you learn how to do this just in case something happens.

Tires

A low tire pressure can do a lot of damage to your tires and other aspects of the vehicle, including a potential tire blowout. Just because your car has not detected a low pressure, it does not mean your tires are not 10 or 20% lower. Learning how to measure and set the correct tire pressure is not hard at all, and you can do it at just about any gas station. If something happens to your tires, its also a good idea to know how to change them. The idea isn’t that you’re good enough to do this every time, but instead that if something happens and you can’t get help, you can do it.

Minor Scratches

It’s pretty safe to assume that everyone loves their car, it’s their baby. It takes them from point A to point B… and C and D. One little scratch isn’t a big deal, but without proper care, that one scratch will turn into many random marks all over your car. It’s pretty easy to learn how to use rubbing and polishing products on your car to hide any flaws.

All these items aren’t too hard to learn, but it’s smart to learn them in case of emergency. Until (and hopefully it never does) that emergency happens, you can bring in your car to your regular car guy.