Car Maintenance Checklist: What You Need to Know

Maintaining your car helps keep you safe and increases the car’s lifespan. Regularly checking your car’s lights, tires, fluids and brakes will help you to catch problems before they become expensive. Using a car maintenance checklist can help you make sure you don’t miss anything.

Monthly car maintenance

Every month, do a quick walk around your car to check the lights, tires and exterior, including the windshield. It should take five to 10 minutes. All of these things help keep you safer driving and prevent any small issue from becoming a big one.

You shouldn’t be spending money on these things each month.

Lights

See if your headlights, brake lights, turn signals and fog lights work. Turn your car and its lights on, then get out and check them. You’ll have to check each turn signal separately unless someone helps you.

Cost: New headlight bulbs can cost about $20 a pair on the low end, but can go beyond $75.

Tires

Look at each tire to see if there’s any bulge where it meets the pavement. It’s best to look at the tire head-on, not from the side. If there is a bulge, it might need more air. You can also use a tire pressure gauge if you’d like to be more exact.

Maintaining tire air pressure can improve your gas mileage and help prevent you from needing to use roadside assistance.

Most gas stations have a machine to refill your tires on the side of the building or the lot. You can find the tire’s maximum air pressure rating on the tire itself. Don’t go above that number.

Cost: Air from a gas station machine typically doesn’t cost more than $2. A portable tire inflator can cost around $40. Tire pressure gauges can cost less than $5.

Exterior

Spot wash anything that could eat through your car’s paint and touch up any scratches. This will make your car look good, protect it from the weather and help keep its value up.

A loose grocery cart can bang into your car, scratching it up. Tree sap and bird droppings can have acid that eats into your car’s paint. It’s a good idea to take a look regularly.

Cost: It costs next to $0 to clean spots with dish soap, water and a rag. Automatic car washes are $10 to $40. Basic car touch-up paint costs around $20. If you want to splurge, a professional exterior detail can cost around $150.

Windshield

Look over your windshield for any cracks or chips. If left unrepaired, a small ding can potentially lead to major cracks, making it harder to see while driving.

You should also look at the windshield wipers. They should be snug against the windshield, but not so tight they squeak all the time when they’re on. And they shouldn’t be fraying or discolored.

Cost: Repairing a chip can cost $35 to $150. Replacing a windshield can be $300 to $600. Insurance will often pay to repair a windshield but it might not be worth it depending on your deductible.

A single wiper blade can cost less than $8, though you can find more expensive options.

Twice-a-year car maintenance

At the start of summer and winter, it's a good idea to give your car a more thorough inspection. Check its oil, coolant/antifreeze and battery, and give it a full wash. All of this will help your car to handle the heat or the cold.

You can often have someone else do these maintenance tasks for you.

Oil changes

Keeping up with your car’s oil changes is extremely important for engine health. If your engine is damaged because you don't replace your oil most car insurance won't cover it.

The least expensive engine oil you can typically get nowadays needs to be changed about every 5,000 miles you drive. You can easily upgrade for more miles between changes. Some can last 20,000 miles.

Cost: If you want to change the oil yourself, car oil typically costs about $18 to $30 for 5 quarts. Most cars need between 4 to 8 quarts. In many places, you must recycle your old oil, which you can often do for free at an auto parts store or at a local recycling center. Oil filters cost $5 to $15 at box stores.

You can also go to a dealership or a store that specializes in oil changes. Having someone else do it will cost around $30 to $100, depending on the oil you choose and how much your car needs.

Coolant/antifreeze

Every car with an engine will have a tank for coolant/antifreeze under the hood. Simply top it off from time to time. This fluid cools your engine when it’s hot and stops it from freezing when it’s cold.

You may see advice saying it’s safe to use water to top off your coolant in the summer. This is true, but you should only do it in an emergency. Don't use water in the winter because it’ll freeze.

Cost: You can buy a gallon of antifreeze for less than $8 at big box stores like Walmart, but prices can go up to $25 at auto parts stores.

Battery

Give your battery a regular check at the turn of each summer and winter season, especially if you drive in an area with extreme heat or cold. Weather changes can be hard on batteries, and finding that your car won’t start is never a pleasant surprise.

One of the best ways to test it is to visit an auto store. Many offer free battery checks. You can also use a tool called a multimeter, but it has limits and won’t tell you how healthy your battery is overall.

Cost: Free battery checks are available at auto parts stores. Multimeter prices range from less than $10 to over $100, depending on how detailed you want the testing.

You can extend car battery life by slowly charging it with a tool called a trickle charger. Trickle chargers cost around $20, while a new battery can cost $70 to $150.

Besides monthly spot cleaning, it can be a good idea to give your car a thorough wash and wax about twice a year. This protects the vehicle and helps keep its value up.

Once-a-year car maintenance

Once a year, it's a good idea to check your air filters, belts and hoses, and windshield wiper fluid or have them checked. If your state requires an annual vehicle safety inspection, do these things on the same day.

Air filters

Make sure your car gets clean air flow when you drive.

Your car has two air filters, one for your engine and one for the interior of your car. Both prevent leaves, sand, dirt and more from getting in. Filters eventually get clogged and stop working, needing replacement.

Cost: Cabin air filters run around $10 to $20. Engine air filters are similar, but high-performance ones can be more than $70.

Belts, hoses

There are parts to your car’s engine that aren’t made of metal. Most act as connections. Belts transfer power, making multiple things move. Hoses carry fluids from one part to another. Check them over to make sure they’re not too loose. Nothing should be worn out, cracked or frayed.

Your car also shouldn’t make screeching noises. If it does, you likely need to replace a belt.

Cost: Serpentine belt prices at AutoZone run between $10 and $50. The tool you’ll also need to tighten them, called a tensioner, costs about $30. Depending on the hose, prices range from $10 to more than $130. Having them changed by a mechanic can run around $100 to $200.

Perhaps the most expensive belt to repair is the timing belt. This first may need to be done when your car’s odometer is anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 miles. It typically requires a professional mechanic and can cost more than $1,000.

Windshield washer fluid

Some cars have a feature that sprays cleaner fluid and uses your wipers to automatically clean your windshield. If you use this, it will occasionally need more fluid. It’s a good idea to top it off once a year or when it runs dry.

Cost: A gallon of windshield wiper fluid costs around $4.

Longer-term maintenance

Many car maintenance items need to be addressed only in the long term, including some fluids, brakes, tires, wheels and the battery.

Fluids

Top off the various fluids, such as brake fluid, power steering fluid and transmission fluid to keep everything working.

You can save a considerable amount of cash if you’re up for some hands-on maintenance. But, depending on your car, you may need special tools. If so, you’ll need to decide whether it’s worth it to pay a professional or invest in the equipment.

Automatic transmissions and differentials are essentially boxes with a bunch of gears inside. Those gears occasionally need fresh oil so that everything continues working. A warning sign that it’s needed is when your car doesn’t accelerate smoothly: it jerks or seems reluctant to move.

Power steering fluid is similar. If it’s hard to turn the steering wheel even when the car is on, you may need some.

Older model cars may also need chassis lubrication, which is simply applying car grease to parts of your vehicle so it doesn’t squeak.

Brakes

It’s a good idea to replace your brake pads as recommended. Your brake pads wear down over time, making it harder to stop. They will eventually wear down to the point where they make a screeching noise. If this happens, you should replace them immediately because it’s important to be able to stop quickly.

Look up when your car manufacturer recommends you replace the brakes. There are ways to check them yourself, but it varies depending on your car. If you’d like to learn, you can look up videos from certified mechanics online for your car model.

Tires, wheels and battery

Tires should be replaced about every five years. Tire treads wear down, giving you less grip on the road and making it harder to steer. You can use the classic penny method to check whether your tire is still safe. Stick the penny upside down into one of the valleys in the tread. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head on the penny, you need new tires.

Whenever you get new tires, it’s a good idea to also get a wheel alignment. This ensures everything is on correctly.

While you should test your battery twice a year, batteries should last two to three years, if not more.

Warning signs

The warning lights on the dashboard can show you if there's an immediate issue with your car. You can Google what they mean or look them up in the car’s manual. Some cars will alert you to mild issues, while others will give a warning only when something is really wrong.

Other things to watch out for include strange noises, strange smells, vibrations, jerky driving, delayed starting and colored smoke from your exhaust.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

To find timing and mileage intervals between types of car maintenance, ValuePenguin staffers looked at auto dealer service websites, auto part store websites and spoke with experts. To form maintenance price estimates, we got quotes from auto part stores, auto dealer services and big box stores.

Our sources include sites such as Toyota Service Centers, AutoZone, Walmart, Firestone Auto Care, Michelin Man, Jiffy Lube and more. Our search centered around Charlotte, N.C.

How often a car needs maintenance and the pricing can vary dramatically. Factors include the type of car, its age, its service history, the style of driving it has experienced and where the car is driven and stored. The cost of car parts and labor can also vary depending on location, manufacturer, certifications and the type and quality of the part.

Always check your car’s manual for the recommended maintenance schedule. Your car’s maintenance schedule is in your car’s owner’s manual. See a certified mechanic with any safety concern.