America is a nation of people who love vehicles of all types. In fact, the U.S. Department of Transportation reports that there are over 250 million registered vehicles in the country. With each of these vehicles comes the maintenance, repairs, and custom improvements that owners will need and want to do on a regular basis. While vehicle repair and body shops may be widespread and easy to access, there are a lot of good reasons for bypassing them and doing this work all on your own.
“Most people become accustomed to just pulling into a shop to have things done on their vehicle,” explains Chris Duke, an Automotive Improvement® Expert. “But we can do better than that. We can do a lot of these things on our own – from customizing to routine maintenance, these are things we can take on.”
Rather than pull into the service station or call someone over to customize your vehicle, consider doing the work yourself. Here are 5 reasons to do your own vehicle repairs and improvements:
- Save money. Having a vehicle can be costly, especially if repairs are needed. However, most often the high costs associated with having them repaired, or having custom improvements made doesn’t come from the parts. The high expense comes from having to pay a professional to the work. If you do the work yourself you will end up saving all the money from the labor fees, thus greatly reducing the cost of any routine vehicle maintenance, repairs, and improvements.
- Save time. If you have ever dropped off a vehicle for a repair job you know the time involved. It could take hours, or could even take days. Having vehicle repairs done chews up a lot of time. It may be valuable time that you could use doing something else. And if you have to take off of work to meet day hours of the shop it could be costing you even more. When you do the work at home you will have better control over your time.
- Gain knowledge. Even if you know nothing about your vehicle to begin with, you will end up gaining a lot of knowledge by doing the work yourself. It’s valuable knowledge that will assist you now and later on down the road.
- Info abounds. Today, there is information on how to do just about everything with your vehicle. Go online and there are detailed instructions, videos, and more. All of these tutorials and shows have made it simple for someone to take on the challenge of doing the work themselves.
- Self satisfaction. The feeling you get after accomplishing a task with your vehicle can’t be beat. Anyone can take it into a shop or have someone come fix it, but doing it yourself is a great feeling of satisfaction.
“The first time you take on the challenge of doing the repairs and improvements yourself you may be skeptical,” added Duke. “But each time you finish one project you are going to become more confident. Before you know it you won’t even consider letting someone else do the work.”
Duke has helped many people be able to do their own projects through his show, titled Motorz, which airs each week to 116 million households around the U.S., Canada, and beyond. He has over 27 years of experience in the vehicle customization field and is an official Craftsman Tool Advisor. His website features show clips, parts, information, interviews, and more. For more information visit his site at: www.motorz.tv.