Repairing your car can be fairly simple if you are dedicated to doing it well instead of quickly. Quick repairs never come out good, and good repairs are never quick. Therefore when it comes to repairing your car yourself, you need to consider some options.
1: Mobile Mechanic
If you are not mechanically minded, it’s best to leave it to a professional, if you can’t take the car to a mechanics shop, there are a wide range of companies out there offering on site mechanical work. Depending how bad your repair is, most common requirements can be serviced in this fashion, however mobile mechanics are rarely cheap so if budget is an issue you may be better off taking the car to an actual shop, asking friends and family about their mechanic is a good way to find a bricks and mortar shop if you have no leads previously.
2: Repairs assisted by friends who are technically minded
If you are in the car community there is
often people that you can rely upon to assist you in repairing your car, while
two pairs of hands are better than one, you need to still consider if you
friends knowledge is as good as it sounds. Most of us like to think we are
great with the tools, but when it comes down to the crunch we are novice at
best compared to a true mechanic. While a true mechanic can’t always be
trusted, they are often a better option than those who are experienced in
working on cars at home but have no actual real world trade education.
3: Repair your car yourself with
workshop manuals
The best way I have found to repair my car is with the help of a workshop manual, these are produced by various publishing companies who either disassemble cars themselves and detail the process, then reverse it to produce the book, which is a method that I wouldn’t recommend, while other companies will actually obtain all the advice from the original car company and produce a book on the topic themselves, the later being the preferred option.
4: Repair your car yourself with factory workshop manuals
Factory workshop manuals / factory service manuals are books created by the actual car manufacturer, they are normally extremely detailed and cover every single repair you could ever imagine to your car. While these are often only available to dealerships, there are sources online where you can obtain one for your car for free. The most popular website we have found is called AllCarManuals.com.