There are some things that you can take care of yourself when it comes to car maintenance and then there are other things that you should really have someone else at least walk you through in person the first time. While YouTube can be a great resource, you definitely don't want it to replace learning certain things in person from those with real hands on experience and knowledge to pass on to you. Here are some simple car maintenance issues and repairs you may be able to take care of on your own with limited experience and others that you want to turn to a mechanic for:

Change your tire

If you have to replace a tire then you actually should be a belt o take care of this on your own. In fact, you should be taught how to change a tire when you are being taught how to drive a car. This way, you will be able to take care of a flat or blown tire anytime it happens, instead of finding yourself needing to wait for someone else to come out and rescue you when the problem should be so easy to solve. You should always have a spare tire, a jack and a tire iron in your vehicle so you are prepared.

Jump the battery

Another thing you should definitely know how to take care of is to jump your battery. There are a lot of times when you may end up with a dead battery and jumper cables. If you and the person who has a car to help jump yours don't know how to jump the car, then you are still stuck. If you have the manual in the glove compartment, it should offer you instructions. You can also watch a video or read online instructions to quickly learn how.

Changing the brakes

While many people change their own brakes, it is definitely something you want to have a professional do, or someone with plenty of experience doing it, until you have done it supervised enough to know absolutely 100% that you know what you are doing. You do not want to mess up on the brakes which can have very bad consequences.

Give the car a tune up

If you can learn to give your car a tune up then you can take care of your tune ups all on your own and save yourself the needs to take the car in and pay. However, until you have learned to do this correctly, you'll want to take the car to a mechanic so you don't run the risk of messing your car up.

Find out why the check engine light is on

If the check engine light is on it can signify a number of issues wrong with the car. It can mean a variety of things, some of them minimal and others more serious. The best way for you to determine the reason your check engine light has come on is to take it into a shop where they will run a diagnostic test on your car to determine the reason the light came on. Once they determine what the problem is, they will also be able to take care of the issue for you.

Share