Depending on your vehicle (and your luck), you could end up spending thousands of dollars unnecessarily all because you do not know that much about cars. Listen up, because these are some of the most common ways people waste money on their vehicles.



Wash your car yourself. Sometimes when your vehicle is serviced, a car wash comes with it, but if you can find the time to wash your car yourself (and clean out the interior), you should. To have a vehicle cleaned spotless from the inside to the outside is not cheap if you are on a budget. Doing it yourself should not be very difficult.

Ditch buying premium gas every time you fill up. In California, the price of premium gasoline is around $4 per gallon and if you know vehicles, you know there is no real difference in performance between premium and normal unleaded gasoline. Unless your vehicle's owner's manual says to use only premium gas, get the cheaper stuff.

Make sure you get your oil changed about twice a year at the least, but you should not have to change it more often than every 5,000 to 7,000 or so miles. And when you do have to have it changed, shop around and find the best price you can.

Or even better, if you know a mechanic and they will show you how to do it yourself (if you have somewhere to perform this service), then you should let them.

When you go shopping around to find someone to perform a service on your vehicle, you should never take it to just any old repair shop or shade tree mechanic. Always use a repair shop that is ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) certified and make sure you have an agreement with them that no extra work will be performed without your approval first. Pay them with a credit card in case you have a dispute with them over the charge.

If your warranty claim is rejected, do what a lot of people do best: complain. A lot of times the vehicle's manufacturer will service a vehicle for free if there is a known issue with a particular vehicle model, even if the warranty is expired. If you have to complain, be as nice as you can about it, though. Most people will go out of their way to help someone who is respectful.