If you’re like me, the thought of working on your car can be a little intimidating. What if I break something? How do I know what tools to buy or how to use them? It’s true that there are some tasks that require more experience than others, but there are plenty of easy things you can do yourself without spending a lot of money or being a mechanic by trade. In fact, most of these tasks will only take an hour or two at most! These days with everything from oil changes and routine maintenance to changing out brake pads being so expensive, it really pays off in terms of savings if you learn how to do some basic repairs on your own vehicle. Here are some steps that may help you succeed in fixing up your vehicle yourself!

Find a good, detail-oriented manual for your car.

• Find a good, detail-oriented manual for your car. Not all manuals are created equal. You want to make sure the manual is for your car, that it’s in good condition and that it’s up-to-date.
• Check out the instructions. The best books have clear instructions with illustrations or diagrams showing what each part looks like and where everything goes when you're done taking it apart. The worst ones have vague language that leaves you guessing about whether or not this is the right way to go about doing things—and even worse yet are those without any instructions at all!

Buy parts and tools specific to your car when you can.

• When it comes to buying replacement parts and tools, don't skimp! Buying generic or used parts can be a waste of money. Generic parts might not fit your car correctly, and used ones may be worn down by previous owners.
• Even if you do decide to buy generic parts, don't just grab the first set you see—often these come with instructions designed for all makes of vehicles but not yours specifically, which will make repairing your car more difficult than necessary. Buying cheap tools is also a bad idea; they won't last long and may even cause injury if they break while you're working on the engine or chassis of your vehicle (and who wants that?).

Join a car forum online. YOURE NOT THE ONLY ONE!

• If you have a car, chances are there's something on it that needs repair or maintenance. You might not be able to fix it yourself, but joining a car forum can give you access to some great advice and wisdom from people who do know how. There are forums for just about every kind of car out there, including foreign cars like Honda Civics and Toyotas Camrys, or domestic models such as Ford Focuses and Chevy Camaros. You'll learn exactly what parts to buy when they wear out (and how much they cost), along with tips on how to fix them yourself if possible.
• Members also share their own experiences with different cars, so if there's one particular problem that keeps popping up in your model year (or even another model), someone else has probably already solved it! That saves everyone time on figuring things out themselves since the answers are already available online somewhere--and since most people don't want their problems known publicly due privacy concerns."