There are several ways to avoid having to shell out all your hard earned cash on costly transmission repairs. For those of you who are more kinesthetic and prefer the challenge and fun of driving a manual transmission, you will find a couple of these pointers a little easier to follow than those of you who prefer the ease of an automatic transmission.

• Watch your transmission fluid levels: It's easy to forget to check the transmission fluid levels when you have all the other fluid levels to check as well. It's tough to keep up with your oil, brake, radiator, and even windshield wiper fluid levels, but the transmission fluid level is one of the most important. Essentially, the transmission is a bunch of gears that run together that turn the axel, which in turn, rotates your tires. If you let your fluid levels run low for a while, these gears will rub on each other, and shave the metal off of each other. This thickens the fluid, which isn't necessarily bad depending on the age of the transmission. You will find with older cars, avoiding a costly transmission replacement will mean thickening the fluid to avoid it slipping in and out of gears.

• Take it easy on the gears: this is the part where it will be easier for the manual transmission lovers to do than those of you who prefer the ease of an automatic. Essentially, the higher the RPM (revolutions per minute), the more the transmission has to work. If at all possible, you want to keep your RPM lower, which will also save you on your gas bill. One way you can do this is to keep shifting into higher gears for the manual transmissions, and even the half/half transmissions (tip-trionic, etc.). For the automatic, you can start your car in drive, switch to second, and even third by watching your RPM, then back to drive after given your level of RPM.

Making sure your automatic transmission stays in good shape doesn't require a whole lot of work, but when you spot a problem, you should take it to an automatic transmission repair shop immediately. Waiting too long to have your transmission repaired can and usually does increase the cost of the repair job and increases the likelihood that you may have to rebuild the transmission.