Car repairs can be costly. Here are some tips that can help save a few dollars on those car repairs.
Check for Warranty
All new vehicles come with a three year or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first from date of manufacture) bumper-to-bumper warranty. This covers most almost everything except for the tires, brake pads or wipers. Nor does it include the routine maintenance like oil change and tire rotation. Make sure to read your car’s warranty coverage because there are car repairs that will get covered.
Independent Repair Shops
When your vehicle is past warranty, you can also bring it to an independent car repair shops instead of car dealerships. When bringing your vehicle to an independent repair shop, make sure that the shop is equipped to handle the kind of repair your car needs. Check that they have the necessary tools and experience to complete their tasks. Here are some tips in finding the right one. Check our articles on tips of finding the right repair shop.
DIY car repair
Nowadays information on various car repair is available online. There are also blogs or videos that discuss different methods of doing the car repair by yourself. For simple maintenance like changing spark plugs, filters, belts, hoses, brake pads, sensors, and many other parts these can be done without professional help. But make sure when attempting to repair the car yourself, that you have accurately determined where the problem. Otherwise, attempting repair may prove to be an expensive mistake.
Get Help from Professionals
Car repairs are tricky and expensive. That is why a lot of people are attempting to repair cars themselves to save money. But then, when doing car repairs, you need to have the proper tools, materials, and knowledge to avoid further damage to the vehicle. When you are in doubt, or you can’t figure out where the problem is, have a professional do the job for you.
Consider Selling the Car
A car is one of the significant investments that we make and sometimes accepting the fact that the vehicle needs to be let go can be extremely hard. Cars like houses depreciate over time, in fact, the moment it goes out of the dealership, depreciation already started. In a year, the car’s value, though brought brand new, competes with used vehicles.
In summary, no vehicle last forever. If it did be prepared to spend a considerable amount of money on maintenance and upkeep. So when considering whether to keep or sell the vehicle, assess first how much repair has been done on the car. And are you willing to wait for the car to start falling apart before selling it. It is advisable to sell the car when it reaches five years old or when their failure rate is higher than at any time in their life. The car usually starts to go wrong more from about 60,000 miles.
