For some reason when DH & I got married I assumed he would take care of my car. Maybe it's because he's a man. Maybe it's because he works 4 days a week and could easily take my car in on his day off. Maybe it's because he is critical of every car decision I make. Whatever my reasoning was it is not working out. Bees, it is time I get over myself and 'own' my car. This game of 'car maintenance chicken' is costing us way too much money.
Who maintains the cars in your household?
pomelo / 5720 posts
We each take care of our own. I have always had to do that though, as my dad made sure we knew how to so it doesn't seem strange to me. I don't do any maintenance myself though, I just bring it in when something needs to be done to it.
watermelon / 14206 posts
DH does. But sometimes, like today, he just says to take mine or his car to a place and have it serviced. But, I'm the one with more spare time right now, and he's gotta work.
He also does spark plugs and oil changed himself. But, he's a "car guy" so it's something he enjoys doing.
For me, it's a case of telling him that a light it on, or my car is making a noise and then he and his dad figure out what's up with it. Then he tells me where to go to get stuff, or where to take it to get it done.
pomegranate / 3438 posts
We both do. It just depends on what needs to be done. We take care of our own cars when it comes to regular maintenance but when something bigger comes up we take care of it together. Or at least discuss how/when/who is going to resolve it.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
When we had three, I took care of mine (company-so maintenance is already paid for) and our bummy car, which was my husband's. The cars I took care of went to the same shop. He may have taken his bummy car into the shop once. We gave that car away though.
My husband takes care of his car and often has to take it to the dealership body shop. He tries to get me to do it, but I figure if he's home every other Friday he has no excuses to not maintain his car.
pomelo / 5258 posts
I'm just especially frustrated today because I took last Wednesday off to take the car in. When I told DH about the noises I was hearing he took the car for a drive and decided it was fine. So I used that day to get his car new tires. Then this morning when I took it in he was pissed about how much the repairs cost and mad I didn't tell him about the noises sooner.
clementine / 899 posts
DH does all the work to all of our vehicles himself, so I guess he "maintains" them.
honeydew / 7091 posts
This is SO DH's field. When we got married I told him I would do all the laundry if he did everything on the car. I will put gas in it, and that's all I want to do!
grapefruit / 4649 posts
@Corduroy: We each maintain our own cars but what really helped was finding repair shops with great perks. One place will come pick my car up from my house or work and drop it off again by the end of the day, the other has loaners. Depending on what we need and what is most convenient we pick which one works best for us.
grapefruit / 4213 posts
We both take care of our cars (regardless of who is the primary driver). Shared responsibilities.
honeydew / 7444 posts
We only have one car, but DH looks after the big things like snow tire changes and oil changes. I will usually let him know if something is off with the car, and he will take the car in because his schedule is more flexible.
It would probably be different if we had two cars, but thankfully we don't.
pomelo / 5257 posts
I'm currently on my first car and I've only had it for four months so no maintenance needs yet (knock on wood!) The tires did need air recently, and my H filled them, but I always fill my gas tank. When the car needs more intense maintenance I imagine I'll want to go together so we can both evaluate what the mechanic says. I'm paranoid about getting ripped off!
pomegranate / 3113 posts
We share a car and DH has a lot more available time during the workdays than I do, so he takes care of it. Also, I generally take transit to work and he drives, so it's more "his car" than mine even though it's in my name.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
@Corduroy: We totally play car repair chicken! lol! I handle routine maintenance like oil changes and regular 'checkups' according to our dealerships schedule. DH handles anything that crops up (flat tire, he called around to get a repair when the dealership said it couldn't be repaired) and major issues or noises he always checks out first.
We made the deal that if I keep up on the regular stuff and do my part to keep it in good running shape, and report 'noises' right away he will actually listen to the noises etc and take point on those things.
eggplant / 11716 posts
We both do, I guess. We only own one car, and I'm the one that drives to work (DH commues on public transport)...but we try to do car stuff on weekends or after hours. Like last weekend, we went together to buy new wiper blades for our car.
I guess in the last year, I took the car slighty more often to get oil changed, but he was usually the one who noticed it was time for me to take it.
cantaloupe / 6692 posts
DH deals with both of our cars. He's just better at it and cares more. I put it off!
grapefruit / 4649 posts
Oh I thought it worth noting that even though I am the one to initiate taking my car in and make arrangements they have his phone number on file instead of mine so he has to OK any repair, he is convinced I will OK unnecessary things even though he literally says yes to everything they suggest and then asks about possible upgrades...
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
My husband does but he's also super into cars (he built one) and babies our cars like crazy.
He won't mop the kicthen but he will detail our cars every week. ::shrug::
eggplant / 11824 posts
We each take care of our own cars. Since its my car (I pay for it, I picked it out, etc.) I feel like I should be the one taking care of it. Neither of us are car people, so we each have a garage we trust and just take our cars there.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We only own one car, my husband "maintains" it from an engine/tires perspective, I maintain the interior by vacuuming it.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
We deal with our own!
Time to be a grownup and take care of your car! You got this! it's easy! Take it in, read a book, relax...don't cry too much when you write the checks 
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@Corduroy: do you have a shop near you that is open on Saturdays? I get my oil and tires done at Walmart, I just get there before they open so I make sure I'm not waiting for hours on end to get them done.
Also, I found a shop near my work I can take my car to if I need it repaired. It's easier than taking a day off. They will take me back to work and pick me up, if I need them to.
grapefruit / 4400 posts
I WFH so I take both of our cars in for maintenance and repairs when needed.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Hubby normally does unless it's something simple like alignment check, then I take it in.
grapefruit / 4997 posts
I am very independent so I took care of all of my car maintenance because I had a very flexible work schedule. I would always schedule it during the early mornings on a weekday when there was less of a crowd. I sometimes took care of his too because of his demanding work hours. But now that we have a 6 month old, he automatically added that onto his to do list but he has to get it done on the crowded weekend.
eggplant / 11287 posts
My DH is a racecar mechanic as his hobby so he does everything on my car. Including cleaning it out and vacuuming it once a week.
nectarine / 2878 posts
DH works at the car dealership that we purchased our cars from, so it's much easier for him to maintain them.
eggplant / 11716 posts
@Corduroy: side note, I'm sure you've already seen those 20/20 episodes where single women get upcharged more for car maintenance stuff, so maybe for BIG repairs, have him take it in. Other things that have a set price (oil changes, tire rotations), you can take care of.
I hate that this happens, but it does. Unless you know a LOT about cars and can call BS when it happens.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
We actually get our tires rotated/oil changed together usually at a drop off place. Shop type overnight services DH usually takes care of~
squash / 13208 posts
DH does - I would let things slide if I had to! DH likes our cars to be cleaned once a week (he does it) and he changes the oil too. When maintenance is needed he takes them in on his day off.
watermelon / 14467 posts
I tell my dad what it's doing and he tells me what to say to the mechanics so I don't get overcharged. They always look surprised when I speak car to them. My favorite is when they tried to get me to pay $20 for something to clean my fuel injection system. You can buy a bottle of that at autozone for like $4.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
Totally my husband. I don't even know where one goes to do things like get an emissions test or renew the registration. Whenever my car needs routine or out of the oridnary care he totally handles it.
But I handle the negotiations when we buy the cars 
persimmon / 1281 posts
DH handles most of the maintenance on weekends when we are both off. Occasionally we have to take it to the dealer, which is 10 mins from my office but 1 hr from his office, so on those occasions I would handle it.
pomelo / 5258 posts
12 days since I wrote this and I already had to take the car in. One of my tires had a flat. Since it was Sunday I only had one choice of place to take it and they were really busy. LO & I ended up window shopping for 4 hours. She got a good nap in the ergo and I got to check out our new town.
bananas / 9118 posts
I do maintenance for both cars. I chose and negotiated the purchase of our family car, so I deal with the dealership stuff. I drive his car on my work day, so usually I notice issues and get them dealt with on the days that we have off together.
If I waited for him to take care of things on his own, it would only be when they break.
clementine / 797 posts
We each deal with our own cars. I once took his car to get smog checked and he drove my car to work that day. I wasn't working at that time so I had more free time. We will run repair costs past each other when it's something that doesn't necessarily *need* to be fixed but otherwise we each tend to our own cars.
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