Most of us are intimidated by almost everything having to do with our cars. We are intimidated by the arcane and occasionally bizarre process we have to go through to buy one and then, once that is out of the way, we spend months or years feeling intimidated by the vehicle itself. Thus, for many of us, automobile ownership is regarded warily as a necessary evil--a distasteful, and even threatening, situation that has be endured by the vast majority of us for whom automobile ownership is a must. It doesn't have to be that way. Approached properly, automobile ownership can be far less stressful, troublesome and expensive. What is required is a basic understanding of the essentials of caring for a car.

A lack of adequate car care is responsible for many of the hassles we experience as car owners. What is every driver's nightmare? Probably, it is a sudden breakdown. Yet, a recent survey a service stations doing on-the-road emergency work revealed that 88% of the breakdowns to which they were called were caused by poor maintenance. In other words, if people would give adequate care to their cars, 9 out of 10 breakdowns could be avoided! Other repairs, always expensive and annoying, are often worse than they need to be on both counts because they were not recognized and dealt with in a timely fashion.

Does caring for your car mean that you have to buy an elaborate set of tools and plan to spend countless hours out in the driveway rebuilding your vehicle? Absolutely not. An owner who has never worked on a car and never intends to do so can still learn to give his or her car excellent care. The basic requirements are a willingness to learn about your car's needs and a commitment to see that those needs are met in a timely fashion. Whether you do maintenance chores yourself or have them done by your local mechanic or service station is unimportant.

What is important is understanding that your car has identifiable, predictable needs and that by responding in a timely fashion to those needs you can increase the pleasure and safety of your car ownership and, at the same time, reduce your expenses and aggravation. This book will help you do that.