Doing maintenance yourself vs. going to a mechanic

Bought a new car and I want to treat it right. In terms of keeping the car in the best possible shape, am I better of doing the maintenance myself, or having a professional do it? Only reason I ask is because I hear that mechanics tend to use bottom of the barrel stuff to cut out more profit for themselves. What's the best option here? Bringing my own parts and have the mechanic use that?

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I think it truly depends on your knowledge level.

Having simple knowledge of basic maintenanceable parts is important. Obviously know how to change your oil, brakes, rotors, and other things. Aside from that, if your car is under warranty go ahead and take advantage of it because its free fixings on that part.

I think if you KNOW how to fix something then fix it. Google is your friend and use your best judgement. Don't do something you don't know how to do obviously

Just do it yourself. It isn't hard.

I would say it can be very hard if you don't have the tools for certain maintenance

If you know your own shit, that would be nice, so there's that.

BUT if you don't have time/don't trust yourself with tools, either (a) pay up for genuine parts and way marked up labor at dealerships or (b) find yourself a reputable mechanic.

If you fuck up and you were in NTB/Jiffy Lube/whatever in pursuit of that $20 oil change, then you only have yourself to blame.

Fluids are a good thing to do yourself. You can use better quality stuff and still get away cheaper than bringing it to a shop and having them use cheap shit.

But honestly whether you do it yourself or bring it to the shop, the main thing is going to be keeping up with everything. If you are lazy breaking out the jack stands and take 8mos and 9k miles to do an oil change and rotate the tires but are willing to bring it to a shop within 4mos, bring it to the shop.

With doing work yourself, you also get to check the condition on everything. Oil places will do this too because you want to upsell you on extra work. Bottom line is you need to know what to look for.

It depends, it's pretty easy to change the oil, replace filters,change brakes, and change spark plugs. Alignment is also pretty easy to do, though it is a little tedious measuring Toe and camber. Changing tires is doable, but it is a lot easier with a machine. It's overall a lot easier to do this with high sidewall tires.

If the car broke down, then take it to the dealer, take advantage of the warranty. I'd recommend not doing any modifications to your car anytime soon, because you have a warranty, and you lack much mechanical experience I'd assume

Fluid changes, tire rotations, serpentine belt and some other small stuff is easy to do on your own, you'll just need a couple tools. And washing your car by hand once a week is nice too.

Besides keeping the car looking nice, does washing it frequently preserve the paint and prevent rust or something?

Yeah, also car washes scratch the paint. If you live in a place with snow then washing also helps prevent rust

Which parts of regular maintenance on your standard car would you need anything that's not found in a typical garage?

new car off the dealership? or used new car?
lease or finance? what car?

easy things like oil change you can do yourself. if you can do it yourself why bring it to a mechanic?

go for it man! What the heck could go wrong?

As well as washing frequently if you live close to the coastline, spray inside the wheel wells.
Handwash it using car soap, DON'T use dish soap. There are plenty of YouTube videos showing how to do it properly.

Car washes as in the drive through automated ones?

New car, 2017.
Cash purchase.

Well there's a difference between someone who thinks they're a mechanic because they watched a Youtube tutorial and someone who is well aware they that they're a novice and can use discretion to decide whether or not you're capable of completing something.

Yes, especially the ones with the scrubber things. Also the washes where some Mexican scrubs your car with a grimy rag.

Oh hey by the way check this out

God's work user. It's really good so far.

>spray inside the wheel wells.
This. So much this.
A lot of shit gets stuck there, including water and salt.

>mechanics tend to use bottom of the barrel stuff to cut out more profit for themselves.
It's all trial and error, some do this and some actually give a fuck about their work quality

Ask your mechanic what they use and if you like it then stick to them for your future work, mechanics take care of regulars

Myself because this. Also tightening sparkplugs with impacts. Fuck mechanics. Fucking thieves, doing Front pads and disk cost me 45€ for some brembo or ferodo, at a mechanic, it's easily well over 300€ for some shitty no brand, 700€ at a concessionary. Ironically those doing car inspections are really good and professional, shame they don't fix cars.

In Australia, your new car warranty depends on you having it serviced by licensed mechanics. Do you not have such a requirement in your country?

First of all, there are a LOT of shitty mechanics. Like tons. It's really hard to find an intelligent personal mechanic because all the best ones go to work for big companies or become engineers.

If you can find a good mechanic who knows what the fuck they're doing and want your car to be the best it can be, then absolutely take it to that mechanic and let him do his shit. For your opportunity cost it will be well worth it.

Unless you get enjoyment out of fixing your own car. In which case that's a different story.

Now if you can't find a good mechanic. It's way more valuable to do it yourself. You will save money in both the long and short run.

There is a compromise. Do the easy things yourself. Especially with things like oil changes that are super easy and require things that can be skimped on (oil and filters). Now if you need a new clutch, that could be something you take the car to a mechanic for.

> buy shocks
> run out of time even though it's a 1 banana repair
> call six local shops
> NO OUTSIDE PARTS
> do it myself after all

>or become engineers.
No mechanic has ever become an engineer, ever

It's not that mechanics become engineers. It's that engineering jobs make more money and attract the same kind of people. So all the smart people who love cars go and become engineers and not mechanics.

>I love to work on cars
>I would love to be a mechanic
>I'm majoring in Aerospace Engineering
>I'm will make twice as much as a standard mechanic at 30 years old.

>he can't do his own clutch
You for real?

Do they have YouTube in your country?

I don't get it. Must be some anime meme.

I'll look into this.

>Bringing my own parts and have the mechanic use that?
kek

some places do that but then dont warranty their work. they blame the parts when it goes bad

Remember that only mechanics can fill in the log book without it looking dodgy

Log book + receipts will make it easier to sell the car for a higher price

I guess I go to one of the only shops that does a fantastic job since the labor never costs more than the parts and they go the extra mile.

>Doing maintenance yourself vs. going to a mechanic

People have made their comments about when is it necessary to take the car in to the dealership for service in the archived thread at:

archive.4plebs.org/o/thread/15419448

You might also look up the two archived threads on OBD devices and apps to display their data in real time.

>Only reason I ask is because I hear that mechanics tend to use bottom of the barrel stuff to cut out more profit for themselves.

It's standard for dealers doing warranty work to use reconditioned (used) parts for warranty repairs. It even says so on each service contract at my local Chevrolet dealership. State law says that I am entitled to having my original parts returned to me if I request, but the time I tried that, the dealership was going to charge me even more for the part they used. They managed to avoid the state law by simply having every contract say that I turn in my original defective part to the dealer in return for a discount. So instead of charging me 200% for the part, they only charge me 100% for the reconditioned part for the warranty job. But as it was under warranty, GM pays the warranty work fee.

So it feels like the dealer is still scamming me of my part even though it is warranty work. I still don't get to have my parts back unless I "pay" for it.

Well labor rates are over 100/hr and if you make more than that I'd say leave it to the professionals but if you make less learn to do it.

I usually get disappointed by the quality of their work and I don't like paying people to do simple tasks. Finding a good mechanic is too difficult and asking a normie to recommend a good mechanic is stupid, they can't tell the difference.

That's fucked. This is why I hate dealerships. They have to screw you every step of the way.