8 Good Reasons Why You Should Learn To Work On Your Own Car!
As a man, regardless of how masculine you feel you are, you will find yourself wishing, wanting, and ultimately expected to “know” things simply because you are a guy. Thanks to macho franchises and bro-cultures merging with the automotive industry, you – at some point – will be forced to show your mechanical knowledge. Here are 8 reasons why it will make you smarter, boost your confidence, and all-around more attractive and super appealing
1. Working on your car is an IQ booster!
Since the dawn of tools, people have been advancing themselves by the utilization of simple machines. Understanding these concepts on a car is something you can do in your driveway and, like martial arts, this is something that applies to life, not just the dojo. You will start to see how everything in your day to day life uses some mechanical component that can be related to a car. Once you can recognize the problem with a car you can start to see them in other things and apply the same thought process to understand how these things work and can be fixed which leads me to number two.
2. Build confidence by recognizing car trouble symptoms.
I am not expecting you to go out and be a grease monkey based on this article, but consider how much better you can feel when you know your car is in good shape. Knowing the basic maintenance schedules in your car and recognizing the symptoms of failing components helps you plan what to service next. Never do I ever want to take a road trip on a whim and have to worry that something is going to fail.
3. Practice Makes Perfect.
You have your car and you have free time, do a basic tire rotation with the spare tire tools in your car. This will help you build emotional readiness and muscle memory for when you get a flat. Knowing how to do this successfully will make the world more bearable when you have a roadside emergency. Nothing feels better than having a problem and knowing how to solve it without dread and panic. Makes you feel like a man.
4. Your bank account will thank you.
Knowing your ride will save you from getting taken for one. The more you know about your car and understand your car, the harder it will be to get taken by a mechanic when you get service. You won’t be a car whisper overnight but doing some online research on car symptoms will guide you pretty well. When the mechanic tells you what’s wrong it won’t sound like Greek to you. You will register enough information to understand the issues they are explaining and better spot the one star from the five-star mechanics. Moreover, with some DIY under your belt, you can confidently address small issues yourself cutting out $75.00/h rates for simple stuff.
5. Car repair is a secret workout.
If working on cars was easy, everyone would do it. Truth is some of the simple jobs are both mentally and physically straining at the same time. Doing a brake job for the first time is equivalent to solving Rubik’s cubes, one in each hand, that weigh 15Lbs each. Yea, easier said than done and your forearms will feel like you have been doing wrist rotations at the gym all day. The joy from a successful repair will follow and that feeling will last for days.
6. Improve your long term planning skills.
Don’t have any? Perfect, now you can get some! Knowing how to do simple tasks and understanding how to identify failing parts, you can now develop the adult skills in understanding maintenance. Maintenance ( preventive maintenance ) is a simpler way of saying, “ Fix your problems before they happen not after the fact.”. Again, this is one of those mental skills that separates high pay from low pay IQs. Knowing when to expect a failure helps you plan your financial strategies better and at some point, not excluding your car, everything breaks down and will need maintenance. Learn your service intervals and get to know general rules of thumb like oil changes every 3000-5000 miles. You can plan around these things and never get financially caught off guard with a surprise repair need. FYI, your mechanic will appreciate fixing small routine maintenance projects VS bigger expensive projects because you put off figuring out that CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. Pro tip: The parts counter “free diagnostic” is not a real diagnostic. It’s just a ballpark guess.
Here is a great article on how to improve your long term planning abilities!
7. Expand your vocabulary and your relationships.
The more you know the easier it is to strike up a conversation with anyone. While I am not suggesting you dive deep into the automotive culture cesspool ( Both good and bad), you now have a new tool for networking in your hands by being able to talk “shop”. This is a fine line to walk if you choose to walk it. You will be found out easily if you don’t know what you are talking about, but you will get a long conversation if you ask a lot of questions when you are outmatched on your automotive knowledge. Unlike internet points, these conversations will earn you respect among your fellow man and that can go a long way.
8. Jumpstart your love life.
Everybody loves a hero and when you find yourself in a position where you can help when no one else knows what to do, you look like a boss. Changing a flat or giving a jump are some easy skills that can have a date on the other end of it. That’s if you use your knowledge at the right time. This stuff is like riding a bike, when you know it you know it for life. Arm yourself to look like a champ and allow yourself to get a date even if it is ”Rescue Romance”. Always be ready to save the day!
For more info on how your relationship with your car says a lot about you, take a look at our other blog here.
