If your car broke down, could you fix it?

Could you change a flat tyre in a pinch? Or check your oil without Googling it first? With roadside assistance just a phone call away, mechanics and car enthusiasts say basic car maintenance skills are slipping through the cracks – especially among younger generations.

RNZ visited Auckland’s Takutai Square and spoke with eight motorists, each with varying experiences behind the wheel.

Five admitted they’d be stranded without a mechanic – or their phone.

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Anna Cabatay, 27, has been driving for about six years but says she didn't know a thing about cars. Her dad was a panel beater, so she would always leave it to the professionals.

“I just call my dad when anything happens. I had an experience once when my tyre basically blew up and I called him to fix it.”

Cabatay was in town with her friend Jennifer Liang, who believes car maintenance should be taught at school.

"I don’t think there’s many options out there for you to learn about this type of stuff," Liang says.

"There should definitely be some implementation in schools because I feel like calling AA is not reliable, especially on New Zealand roads where it’s quite rural, sometimes you call and it can take a while."

Alex Parkinson has been driving her dad’s car for about five years. While she admits she has some knowledge gaps, she’s generally confident giving things a go on her own.

"My dad taught me most about what I know. I know I’m missing a lot of the fundamentals but I have a weird jumper knowledge between the two because my brothers know a lot."

Parkinson knows how to change a tyre, jumpstart a car, and check and fill her tyre pressure. She reckons she could probably check the oil too – with a little backup: "I might need a phonecall".

Her first port of call would be a DIY video tutorial – calling someone only if that fails.

"Both of my brothers are really good at cars, and I think if I called someone for help the first thing, I’d never hear the end of it. I trust my own skills with it enough, but not to the point where I think I could do it all on my own.

"I think it’s important to know the basic skills if you have a car, so you don’t have to call and pay to get it fixed every five seconds. In my brain, it feels like how you should know basic skills about a how to open things on a computer before you get one."

Mechanic Craig Draper has seen it all in his 27 years in the business. He says most people only bring their cars in for a scheduled service or a warrant of fitness – often their only legal obligation.

When it comes to repairs, he says it’s no longer about flat batteries or overheating radiators – now, it’s all about electronics.

"Cars have changed as well, modern cars are a lot more reliable in some areas from what they were 20 years ago when we used to have lots of cooling problems," says Draper, who is the boss of Fredco Motors in Auckland.

"It’s mainly electronic problems now which people can’t fix themselves, so checking your key engine check light is on, which is reading the sensors. We have problems with sensors and faults that people can’t fix themselves and they can’t diagnose."

In the modern world, Draper says a red or orange warning light on the dashboard is normally what sends people into his workshop.

"Red warning lights are danger, like, ‘Stop, don’t drive, put it on a tow truck.’ Some people don't, they just drive and it stops and they wonder why.

"Orange warning lights are, ‘Hey, you’ve got a problem, it's not likely to break down, but get it in as soon as you can so we can diagnose it’."

Draper says there are a few basic maintenance skills everyone should know – like checking the coolant level and oil level in the engine. The other problem area that’s essential to know about? Tyres.

"Tyres are a big one, people look at the outside of the tyre and go, ‘Oh, it looks okay’. Often you’ll turn the steering wheel around to the lock, and low and behold, the inside edge of the tyre has got steel sticking out of it, which is something we see regularly.

"That’s obviously very dangerous. Blow out on the motorway and majority of people would probably lose control of their car."

It's something Zoel Arif knows all too well. A car enthusiast who services vehicles as a hobby, Arif recently had a scare when his steering locked while driving.

“I almost drove into a pole. Something was wrong with my ignition, but my dad is fixing it right now.

"I feel like it’s pretty important to know these things, say you’re driving around in rural areas, you can’t call anyone, you should know how to change a tyre and jumpstart your car."

Draper has seen customers coming into the workshop with all sorts of problems, many of them easily fixable at home. From flat tyres with slow leaks to empty washer bottles - and drivers who didn't know how to fill them.

"They haven’t even got the bonnet open and found the washer bottle. It’s fairly accessible, you just fill it up with some Bar’s Bugs or some water at least."

However, not all DIY fixing goes according to plan. Draper says things can go badly wrong when people try to take matters into their own hands.

"We see people accidentally putting water in the brake fluid reservoir or engine, thinking it was the washer bottle. A friend of mine actually did that on his very, very, very late model high-end Audi recently.

"I’ve also seen brake pads put in back to front, with the metal on metal."

While some people still take pride in caring for their cars, Draper says most rely heavily on mechanics to remind them when their next service is due.

"Some people are passionate about their cars and they really look after them. But I think if you went for the majority, people rely on workshops to send them reminders about their serving and warranty. I think compared to 20 or 30 years ago, people are worse at looking after their cars.

"When I grew up, you checked your oil and water every week. Now, your bonnet doesn’t get opened on your car between services annually, and we rely more on warning lights, reliability of the car, and workshops to take care of those things for us.

"It’s off peoples' radar more nowadays than it was in previous generations without a doubt - and some of that’s down to the fact that cars are better than they were 30 years ago."