The first thing you need to look at is the outside of your car. Check your tires twice a month to make sure they’re properly inflated. You should use a tire gauge at least once a month. You’ll also want to check for body and bumper damage regularly.

Leaking fluids are always a sign of some trouble, too. Make sure you look under your car on a regular basis to see if you’re losing oil, coolant, power steering fluid, brake fluid or transmission fluid. You should know that finding water under the air conditioner is normal, however, and just comes from condensation.

You’ll also want to watch for smoke in your fuel exhaust. This can almost always indicate a problem of some sort with your engine.

Finally, look out for those engine or fluid warning lights. You might be tempted to ignore that “service engine soon” light, but if you let it go you may wind up with extremely costly repairs.