I have a car that is starting to get older so I decided to do my own maintenance this year. I have not had much experience working on cars before, but I am super happy I did it, and it feels great having done it myself.
The biggest benefit for me doing my own service is to not have that feeling of getting screwed by the garages here in HK.
It also saves a bunch of money, is a pretty fun weekend activity, most of the materials are available and really cheap on Taobao (if you can read Chinese, or use Google Translate or just order from Ali express or eBay. I bought all the tools I needed for a fraction of the the price of a normal service in Hong Kong, and besides the jack stands it doesn't take up that much space. A few wrenches, scissor jacks and some tool to remove the oil filter is all I really needed.
I ended up changing new engine oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, brake pads and fluid, wiper blades from taobao for a few hundred. Unfortunately I was not able to order the engine oil, brake fluid or coolant from China so I had to buy it from a local shop (it's way more expensive than buying on Taobao.
A big struggle was finding somewhere that would accept the old engine oil and fluids, but in the end I found that some of the shops selling new oil are willing to take in your old fluids. And I also stopped by one of those FEHD recycle centres and the people there said they could take the engine oil since it was just from personal use.
For working on my car I didn't have any trouble doing it at the top of some parking garages or on some empty streets.
I spent about 3 thousand on parts and tools to do this job and I think if I went to the dealership would have cost me somewhere between 10-20k.
I know in other countries there are DIY garages where you can work on your car, so if there are any other resources for doing DIY car maintenance or repairs in Hong Kong would be fun to learn more.