Everyone has advice for first-time car owners. So much so that it can actually become very overwhelming for those new car owners. How do you know what advice is best? It can be difficult to tell, especially as a new car owner who doesn’t have a lot of experience driving and maintaining their car. In a lot of cases, how to handle your car is going to be learned over time, and with experience as a car owner. Still, some advice for first-time car owners is truly excellent. The best way to tell which of the advice you might commonly see is good, versus what may not be as applicable to you, is to see how often a bit of advice gets repeated. Here are a few of those important pieces of advice for first-time car owners to know as they buy their first vehicle.
Protect Your Car From the Elements
One of the most important pieces of advice for first-time car owners is to protect your car from the elements. That’s because the elements are a universal issue that you’re going to run into. After all, whether you deal with severe winter months or the dry heat of a desert, your car has to be outside in the elements at least once. That means that it’s best to find a way to keep your car from the elements when it’s not in use.
One of the best ways to get a garage for your car to park it in. This might require getting garage door services to come and install an automatic door to your garage to make it easier to get into and out of without leaving the car. However, by putting the effort into making sure that your car is out of the elements as much as possible, it will help keep your car from suffering damage and wear based on the elements.
Get Your Windows Tinted
Finding a car window tinting service to tint the windows of your car is a great idea for anyone who has recently bought a car. This is because it will hide everything that’s inside your car. If you have anything of value inside, then it could potentially be burgled. However, if you have your windows tinted, people won’t be able to see into the car and know that you have anything of value inside. In other cases, tinted windows will help preserve your privacy, along with the privacy of anyone else in your car. This makes getting your windows tinted, in particular the back windows, popular among parents who want to preserve their child’s privacy.
It’s important to remember that there is a maximum amount of tinting that you’re allowed to put on a car’s windows before it can become illegal. However, the laws surrounding window tint vary by state, so it’s important to do research before you go in for a window tinting to make sure that you’re getting what’s best for you.
Build a Relationship with Your Mechanic
It’s vital to find a good mechanic. Once you’ve found a good mechanic, build up a strong relationship with them. For one thing, mechanics can give some of the best advice for first-time car owners. Secondly, you need to make sure that your car is being treated as well as is possible when you go to the mechanic. Someone you know and trust will give you peace of mind when any issues, like collision repair, arise that it will be handled as quickly and be done as well as possible. You also don’t need to worry about being overcharged if you have a strong relationship with your mechanic.
All in all, building a relationship with your mechanic is important for first-time car owners because you are going to want to maximize how long your vehicle effectively runs and is usable. There are also a lot of mechanics to choose from, so it can be difficult to find a good one. To find one that you know you can trust, you may want to find someone who you trust and already owns a car to see who they recommend bringing the car to. This will not just let you know you can trust the mechanic before you even get there, but it will also give you something to speak to the mechanic about right away to start helping to build that relationship.
Keep Attorney Info Handy
One of the unfortunate realities of driving is that accidents do happen. Even once you make sure that everyone is safe, it’s important to make sure that you have information on an auto accident attorney ready to go. There are a few different reasons for this. The first is that insurance can be incredibly difficult to navigate and manage. If you were at fault, you may be dealing with having your insurance sued over the accident to pay out for damages or injuries. If you weren’t at fault, you’ll still need to get an accident attorney, so that you can get the resources that you need to pay for the damages.
This means that keeping an attorney’s information handy is one of the most important pieces of advice for first-time car owners. Whether it is someone who you know personally, or by their reputation, a good attorney is vital in these instances.
Make a Maintenance Schedule
For anyone who owns a car, let alone a new car owner, it’s important to maintain a proper schedule for maintenance. This is because cars are liable to breakdown over time, and this is only more likely if you don’t take proper care of them in the meantime. So, it is vital to maintain a strong maintenance schedule. This starts with an oil change. How often depends on the car you have, but most of the time it’s going to be between 3,000-7,500 miles of driving. It’s also important to find an alignment service that can rotate your tires for you too. Tire alignment is important to make sure that your tires aren’t misaligned, potentially damaging them.
Most people get their tires aligned when they get an oil change because it is part of maintaining that maintenance schedule. Inspections are another way of making sure that there are no major issues that you need to be concerned about. Getting into a schedule of maintenance will help make sure that your vehicle lasts as long as possible.
Research Insurance Before Purchasing
In terms of advice for first-time car owners, perhaps none is more important than to research your insurance before purchasing it. There are so many companies out there that it can be difficult to know what the best option is, and just pick the first one that comes to your mind. However, each insurance company has different offerings and different levels of insurance. By comparing and contrasting different companies, you’ll be able to figure out which insurance agency is best for you.
Of course, insurance itself is vital. If you get into an accident and don’t have proper insurance, you could be looking at paying medical and automotive bills out of pocket. That’s a major problem. It’s even illegal to drive without car insurance, depending on where you are. This means that insurance is an unavoidable expense, but also one that could help you out significantly in the event of an accident. So, take your time and find the best provider.
Learn What’s Under the Hood
Not every issue with your car should be something that requires going to a mechanic. Instead, a lot of things you can probably fix yourself. Other things are so minor that it’s hard to consider them repairs at all. For instance, if you run out of wiper fluid, you shouldn’t need to worry about it. Instead, you can refill that yourself. It just takes some knowledge of what’s going on under the hood of your car. If your battery dies, and you need a jump start, it’s important that you already know how to handle the situation. Everything from a bulkhead connector to the water pump is worth knowing to avoid sending your car to a shop to get fixed.
This is worthwhile advice for first-time car owners because they’re in the best situation possible to learn about their vehicle. Everything is new to them at one point or another, so use the earliest opportunity possible to learn about how to maintain your cars and forever be able to get the most out of your cars.
Protect Your Tires
Make sure to pay attention to your tires, because they are absolutely vital to your safety while you’re driving. They’re easy to forget about, though, and as a new driver, you may need the reminder more often.
The need to protect your tires goes beyond tire rotations to make sure that your ties stay aligned, however. The longer that tires get used, the more worn they show. This lessens the grip that they have on them. This is dangerous under any circumstances, but especially so when the roads are wet and slick. This is because when rain hits the road it actually releases oils that result in a slippery surface. If your tires don’t have a proper grip, it can cause an accident. Similarly, be careful that you don’t lose any air pressure in your tires, and if you do figure out why and correct the issue. This can commonly come from running over debris on the road that pokes a hole in the tires. It’s important to patch or replace a tire dealing with a leak because if you have one tire a different pressure than the others you may be dealing with it can cause you to lose control of your vehicle.
You can’t rely on asphalt paving companies to always keep roads perfect so that you can get by on subpar tires. Instead, maintain and protect your tires, because they’re one of the most important things protecting you on the road.
Know When to Call a Towing Service
A bit of advice for first-time car owners that can be difficult to figure out is when to call a tow truck. Is it a situation where you can drive it home or to the mechanic yourself, or is it time to call a tow truck? Obviously, if a car can’t physically drive then you’re going to need to have it towed. In the same breath, if you can’t see out all the windows or effectively use your mirrors, you’re going to need to tow the vehicle as well. The same can be said for a flat tire when you don’t have a spare to put on the car, as driving on that can severely damage the axle. In most other cases, however, you should be able to drive the car to wherever you need it to go.
It can be difficult to know when to call a car towing service, especially when you first buy your car. However, it’s important to know. For anyone who owns something besides a regular car, like an RV, it’s worth knowing that the average towing company isn’t going to be able to handle RV towing. This means you’ll have to find a company that specializes in RV towing once you’ve found that you do need a tow.
As you learn about your vehicle and what it means to be a car owner and how to handle your car in different situations. It takes time, but you can abbreviate that time by taking good advice for first-time car owners when it’s available to you.
