You rack up a lot of expenses once you get to college. Most people have to start paying for food and rent, on top of paying for school itself. If you’re lucky enough to have a car at school with you, you know how expensive that can be, too. Replacing things in your car can become exorbitantly expensive, no matter what kind of parts you’re using. Here are some car parts you can easily replace yourself to save on going to the mechanic.
Replacing Your Car’s Battery
Despite how intimidating it might sound, replacing your car’s battery isn’t much of a hassle. But you must remember the order in which you remove and replace the cables. The negative cable, usually black, is the first cable you should remove and the last cable on the new battery you should replace. Remember this, and you’ll have no problems getting a new battery for much less than a mechanic would charge to replace it.
Changing Your Car’s Brake Pads
Thinking about touching your car’s brakes might be scary if you’re new to car maintenance, but it’s actually a very simple procedure. Brake pads you can buy separately are much cheaper than the price a mechanic will charge you per axle. You only need a few basic tools, a jack, and some jack stands to do this procedure yourself. Take the wheel and hardware off, remove the old brake pad, slot in the new one, and replace the hardware and wheel.
Changing Your Car’s Oil
Of all the car parts you can easily change yourself, performing an oil change is one of the easiest. You should change the oil in your car approximately every 10,000 miles. But you don’t need to take your car into the shop to do it. A bottle of oil will cost you much less than a full oil change at a garage. Every vehicle’s oil change process is different, so make sure you look up your own car’s method before you begin.
Replacing a Headlight or Taillight
Headlights and taillights go out all the time. It’s dangerous to drive without one or more of them—not to mention illegal. The most important thing to remember for changing your lights is to take the old lightbulb with you to the store. This helps you make sure you get the same kind of lightbulb to replace it.
