The Car World Made Simpler: A Few Things Every Women Should Know How to do With Their Car.
The world of automobiles is a complicated one.
There’s standard, automatic, four wheel drive, power steers, four cylinder engines or hybrid. And those are just the things I kind of understand. With car language, it’s all Greek to me.
As an LA girl, you need a car in order to survive. The Valley is way too big and public transportation here is truly awful. At times, I do long for the days when I just hop on the subway or bus to wherever I needed to go. Ahhh, a simpler time.
Personally, I try to Google any car questions or concerns so I can understand whatever the mechanic is saying to me. Most of the time I still have no clue, but I totally nod my head in agreement and just ask how much I owe.
However, I do feel that there are a few things that every woman should know about/how to do in order to be more independent.
1. What oil your car takes. Okay, maybe you don’t know how to do an oil change, but you should know which cap the oil goes in and how to check the oil level.
2. How to add windshield wiper fluid to your car, it’s honestly the easiest thing ever. First, it’s blue liquid that looks like Windex and the container is usually clear, so need I say more?
3. How to add air to your car’s tires. The tires have the level of air they should have in them, just have someone show you. If they look low, fill them to that number.
4. How to put gas in your car. You’ll be shocked to know some of my college friends told me freshman year they never put gas in their cars before. You know who you are ladies!
5. How to change your air filter. Look at your car manual and it has a picture of your engine. The air filter is clearly labeled. Get it from your local car place, mine is called AutoZone. You unsnap the case-thingy pull out the old and put in the new. Done and done.
6. How to change out your headlight. Okay, confession time. I am currently learning this aspect of my car. You can look up your manual online or if you have the paperback you can look it up there. Or even simpler, go to your local car place, again, and just tell what kind of car you have and POUF it appears. It takes some elbow grease, but think how impressed your next boyfriend will be.
7. You should know what your battery is and what it looks like. That’s all.
8. What kind of Windshield wiper blades you need. Again, not rocket science. Go back to your car place, or you can even go to the car section in Target, find the wiper aisle and there will a book there. Find your car and it will tell you what length wiper you need for each one. Easy! You follow the instructions, take off the old wiper blades and snap on the new – just don’t press down on your windshield too hard because then it will crack.
And, when all else fails, have an emergency car kit in your trunk, know what a spare tire is, and have a membership to AAA.
