As my motto goes take car of your car and it will take car of you neglect your car and it will leave you on the road side "lef u a road" as the Jamaicans say
to most people a car is just a mode of transport but to others like myself it is also an investment and the better maintained car will always fetch more when its time to sell esp with the rarer car's value will actually start to go up
#1 Motor Oil maintaining the correct engine oil level is important because most people think oil only lubricates the engine but it also provides additional cooling in the engine don't wait until the engine oil light comes on to check it and also maintaining the level is one thing but remember to change it every once in a while according to the manufactures specs
neglect can cause total engine failure by partial melting of the pistons and other internal components when this happens you will need a new engine or a new car
#2 Tyre Pressure maintaining correct tyre pressure is important to ensure maximum tyre life, comfort and fuel economy it is recommended that you check the pressure once every week or two when the tyres are cold
neglect can cause the tyres to puncture easily when you hit a pothole due to over or under inflation, reduced performance and reduced fuel economy they can also make your car feel lazy
#3 Transmission Oil very similar to engine oil but on older cars this one doesn't have a warning light and is very important esp with expensive, complicated automatic transmissions and must be flushed and topped up every once in a while
neglect can cause total transmission failure with partially melted and ground gears it may also cause the car to pull slowly and to vibrate when accelerating and the transmission to emit weird noises
#4 Paint this really has some importance most people say paint is just there to look good nothing more but the cars paint also protects the metal underneath from rusting in the elements and is generally the first thing people look at when purchasing a car this can be helped by not resting anything metal/hard on the car to open the door and washing the car properly with the correct soaps/shampoos
neglect can cause body panels to start rusting after a while and the paint to become discoloured
#5 Brake Fluid the car uses break fluid to apply pressure to the break calipers the car will show that it need more break fluid by using the hand brake warning light so if your car has the hand break light on when the hand break is down and your driving you might need to top up
neglect can cause reduced breaking performance thus probably an accident, jerky break pressure and in extreme scenarios total breaking ability loss(the hand break might still work I've never tested it, if this happens to you refer to the defensive driving tip#3)
#6 Brakes very important to maintain after all every time you step on the brakes u expect the car to decelerate well what if it doesn't then you have a serious problem. All brakes have ways of indicating when they need to be changed on older cars they have a hard piece of metal called the brake wear indicatior that starts to rub on the metal disk and makes a squeaking sound when and if you hear this change the pads as soon as possible because this hard metal will eventually score your brake disks, newer cars esp. BMWs have a sensor that tells you when the brakes need to be changed
neglect can cause refer to #5
#7 Coolant and Cooling system very important to maintain and keep clean because it keeps your engine in the ideal operating temperature, it is recommended that you flush your cooling system at least once per year and don't dump the coolant anywhere it is illegal carry it to an auto shop or service station to be disposed of
neglect can cause the engine to overheat and blow the head gasket, radiator explosions and total engine failure due to the pistons expanding too much in the cylinders and destroying it.
#8 Windscreen and Wipers keeping your windscreen clean is important after all if you cant see you can drive, a dirty screen will reflect the suns glare in itself making it much much harder to see out of it. Keeping it clean is a simple task you can simply use the same solution you would use to fill your washer bottle as for the wipers keeping them out of extreme heat will prolong their life, this can be done by simply raising them off the windscreen during the day if you park in the sun commonly practiced in Japan
neglect can cause you to run into something you didn't see on the road such as a pot hole or in a worst case scenario a person as for the wipers they can score your windscreen if they become hard and not replace and they will streak and wont remove water efficiently
#9 Suspension another part of the car that should be kept up to spec, this job though normally cannot be done by the average person in their garage. The suspension bushings should be checked and the front suspension should be aligned if necessary esp important in front wheel drive cars.
neglect can cause accidents as the car can suddenly change direction if one of the major suspension components fails or if the car isn't aligned correctly can also cause the front drive shafts to pull them selves clean out of the trans axle case and in such an event its best to start crying, can adversely affect the handling of your car and can lead to an uncomfortable ride.
