Working on my own cars (and everything else) is something I’ve done as long as I can remember. As kids we would buy old bikes, take them apart, sand them, repaint them and sell them for profit. I asked, as many kids do, for a motocross bike every year until I earned enough money and bought one with my own money. It had two flat tires and I had to run next to it in 1st gear to keep the momentum up for the 2 miles back to my house. When I made it home our neighbor came over and mentioned that I could fix the tires myself; I was planning to take them to a shop to be fixed. Our neighbors had 3 motorcycles and 1 car and didn't like "others" working on his rides. The car they’d bought new, it was 16 years old and had less than 60,000 miles on it, needless to say they didn’t much like filling that big tank. He came over with some simple tools (made for the job though) and shortly we had pulled one side of each tire bead off, ready to insert a tube. This was simple compared to his complete tire swap he performs on his bikes yearly.

I graduated from bikes to cars soon after with an ever evolving list of junkers, hot rods, 4x4s and utilitarian vehicles. I have changed clutches, starters, radiators, tires, brakes, fuel pumps, fuel lines, carburetors, transmissions, and a slew of electronic parts. I do it one because I’m frugal (cheap), two because I’m capable (or so I think), three because I get satisfaction from the finished product (that hopefully works) and lastly because if it is not rocket science I must attempt it. Most maintenance items on cars can easily be done by anyone with a simple tool kit. I used to be able to expense oil changes out to the company I worked for and sitting there listening to the “tech” talk some poor person into the most simple replacement parts and charge them 5-10 times the cost of the part would make me squirm. Not that big of a deal on one light bulb, but add a few light bulbs, air filter, cabin filter, etc. you’re paying 60 bucks on top of your $40 for the oil change, where across the street at Advance Auto Parts it totals out to be a $20 fix if you did it yourself. I tend to base the work I’m willing to do on an hourly rate that I earn at my job and compare it to what I would have to pay someone else for the work - so 80 bucks for half an hour of work, I’ll pay myself that. Everyone should have a repair manual for their vehicle be it Haines or another brand. One of the easiest things to do is ask a shop for a quote then go to an online parts store an see how much the part is.

One do it yourself repair job for example are brakes. Brakes are one of those jobs most people are scared of, due to the nature of what they do (being able to stop a vehicle is after all important), and all the movies with cut brake lines and car careening off cliffs don't help either. However, most front brakes are fairly simple: two bolts or allen keys holding on the caliper, loosen the top to the brake fluid reservoir, squeeze the caliper open using the old brake pad and big C-clamp, swap out pads and put it back together. No bleeding of the brake lines required. Some of the newer car brake pads are replaced without removing the caliper. It may be second nature for some and make others uncomfortable to do this work. Of course the more you do it, the more comfortable and knowledgable you will be. However, if brakes aren’t going to be in your future, at least conquering the simpler items like air filter, bulbs and even spark plug replacement CAN be an easy one tool job. The satisfaction of the job - endless (and it's also very nice to have saved some money too).