to think I shouldn't ... (car related)

[clayspaniel]

AIBU to think I shouldn't have to do weekly or monthly checks on my car (oil, water etc)? Have been told that the reason my car is such a money pit is that I don't do these sort of checks. Does anyone actually do them?

I don't check. My car is a year old so I expect it to go from service to service without needing oil or water.

I check mine every 4-6 weeks depending on mileage, it has a yearly service when the mot is done too.
Easy to remember and quick to do, as well as potentially saving you a lot of money and hassle.

Do you keep a safety kit in the car when the weather starts turning bad too? Such as - water, blanket, snacks, warning triangle, first aid kit etc?

I don't check but the car has a yearly service and has warning lights for everything, including tyres.

My car is fifteen years old and done 220,000 miles. I never check anything.
It doesn't even get serviced any more, just the MOT.
I've been driving over twenty years and never dine these checks. Had several boyfriends and not aware they have ever done them on their cars either.
OutToGetYou I could have written that post - except for the bit about the boyfriends!!!

I check oil, water and tyres every day that I use the car. Takes 2 minutes. I carry oil, water and a basic tool kit

I really can't get my head around checking your oil every day Why? What will have happened to your oil since yesterday?

You don't need to refill your water in a YEAR?!

Only when I've had old bangers

Unless you have a severe leak (in which case the evidence would be where you park the car) you do not need to be checking all these things on a daily or even weekly basis. That's just ridiculous.

Daily? Really? I think that's a bit excessive.

I don't check anything on my car. I have been driving years and never had to top up water or oil in between services. Always had newish cars though if that makes a difference.

Can't believe people only top their water up once a year don't you get dirty windscreens? I do mine at least monthly!

I know someone who cooked their fairly new Land Rover discovery because they thought it had an oil light.

It didn't.
So yes do check even if you think it's got a light

The only water I've refilled is the windscreen washer fluid! I wouldn't know where to look for anything else. There's no point me carrying a tool kit as I wouldn't know what to do with it - I'm sure the AA have better tools than me anyway!

Dh does ours cars, and Ds 1 and 2's and Dm's every couple of weeks or so, and gives them a wash and vacuum.
He's a bloody miracle, keeps all the cars going and safe. If anything happened to him, npne of us would know where to even put the washer fluid, even though he's shown me multiple times

These checks are part of the driving test now.

Why do you think that is OP?

Yes I do them.

As for warning lights and messages - they are OK up to a point but often will only tell you something when it's too late.

Also, if your car is using lots of oil and or coolant, that is a sign something is wrong (like a leak) and you need to take it to the garage for diagnosis.

Tyre pressure monitors (some are just a warning light) have been mandatory since 2014 for new cars, my 2005 car had them, but again, they will only warn when something's already wrong - light came on mine because a wheel had been damaged going over a pothole and was cracked.

DH checks ours on a weekly basis. He washes them, checks the windscreen washer fluid (does that more often in his in hot Winter), the tyre pressures and the water and oil. Yes, we've got warning lights, but he's an engineer and doesn't like to leave things until warning lights come on.

DS1 does his every weekend when he comes home. He's technically minded, and has to try fix his work vehicle (a tank) if it goes wrong, or call in someone else. It's easier to keep it maintained, so he follows that mindset with his own car.

Oh windscreen washer fluid I do fill up when needed, when I said I don't check water I mean radiator water.

I admit, I don't check as often as I should. I check tyres all the time because I am paranoid about them, and keep an eye on the dashboard. But, you might well be able to tell if things are getting low, before warning lights. Engine heating more quickly than usual? Fuel consumption up? Any extra noise? Etc.

I know I should check more often, but keeping an eye on those things has alerted me to problems well before any warning lights kicked in.

I never check mine anymore, but that's because I'm married to my mechanic.

Prior to that I did check them every month or so. I learned the hard way once when I was younger, I seized my engine up on a motorway because I hadn't checked my car for ages.

And anyone that doesn't check things inbetween annual services either does very low mileage or has been lucky! And new cars need oil and water for their engines too!

I worked with someone who ruined their 4 month old BMW 1 series convertible company car as he hadn't checked the oil.
The company were livid, but he was adamant it wasn't his fault as the car didn't tell him

Weekly or daily checking is a little excessive but monthly or quarterly is probably about right.

Relying on the annual service and mot is asking for trouble. It's people who do that who generally expect cars to never need money spending on them and then moan about 'unexpected' repair bills. Why is it serviced twice a year, do you do a very high mileage?

But I don't understand why you need to get someone to show you how to do the checks. If you can drive you should know how and if you don't for your car. That's what the manual is for.

I've had my car for a couple of months and haven't checked any of these things, I know my tyres have good tread, windscreen washer fluid unless your off roading I don't think it would ever be necessary to use it immediately if it did run out on a journey. I should probably check the oil and radiator levels but the cars in decent condition so it shouldn't need checking often

I check my tyres every time I fill up with fuel (at least every 2 weeks, at the moment every weekend), using the air thing at the petrol station. I check my oil and coolant levels every few weeks as well (my car doesn't seem to use much oil, but it takes seconds to check and would be very costly if it developed a leak and ran out). I do have a warning light for screenwash, which I generally rely on. I also have the car serviced every year at a main dealer.
My dad was always on at me to look after my car (and it'll look after me), which is why he taught me how to check all these things (and change a wheel) long before I was old enough to drive!

The amount of people who don't do the absolute bear minimum to check their car isn't in safe order is astounding.

I'd hate to find my car overheated on the hard shoulder with two kids in it because I didn't bother to check the coolant level.

I'd hate to find my engine seized up at 70mph on the motorway, with or without my kids in it! The loss of control would be catastrophic.

I'd hate to find that my brakes had failed completely because the fluid level had dropped below the level of the master cylinder. Disastrous.

I'd hate to try to pull an emergency stop only to find my tyres were out of tread.

"the cars in decent condition so it shouldn't need checking often"

Dear lord, the car won't be in good condition if you don't check these things often. Any new car can burst a hose and lose coolant. Any new car can get an oil leak.

It costs nothing to check your car over, but it could cost you your life, the life of anyone else in the car, or the life of a pedestrian or other road user if you don't. A lot can change in the 12 months between MOT's.

FFS. The ignorance here is astonishing.

If you never look at your tyres, how can you be sure they are still legal? No wonder I see so many cars in car parks with illegally worn out tyres. How would you feel if you crashed and the Police found your illegal tyres?