Quick Fix: 4 Easy Car Repairs that Can Save You Money Long-Term
Car maintenance can be an expensive chore. It’s also a great way to keep your car on the road. If you can keep up with a few minor, quick car repairs, you’ll actually save money during the operable life of your car. Below are four of the most important.
Oil Changes
This is a simple one, but it matters in the long term. If you aren’t changing your oil at the required intervals, you’re putting your car at serious risk. If you don’t want to deal with major engine troubles, you should hit the shop every three to five thousand miles.
It might be a tedious trip, but it’s worth it—cars that see regular oil changes are less likely to deal with the issues that come from wear and tear on engine parts.
It’s important to remember that you don’t need to change your own oil to save money in the long run. Even paying fifty dollars per oil change will still see you through thousands of miles before you’d reach the price of replacing your engine. This is one easy bit of maintenance you must not skip.
Lights and Covers
Some of the repairs you should make have very little to do with the functionality of your car. Instead, they’ll keep you from having to deal with mountains of fines and unpaid tickets.
If you can keep your bulbs, headlights, and tail light covers in good repair, you won’t get pulled over as often. Having your lights go out is a great way to attract police attention, especially if you are driving at night. Instead of putting yourself in the position to get a ticket, why not just spend a few dollars replacing the offending part?
These are among the least expensive repairs you can make to a car, yet they can save you hundreds of dollars in fines.
Brake Repairs
Your braking system is actually a little more complex than you might think. Replacing brake pads isn’t all that expensive—it can be time-consuming, of course, but it shouldn’t cost you much.
Things get much more expensive, though, when you let your brakes wear all the way down. Doing this will require you to shell out for more expensive repairs and might even cause serious damage to your car.
Instead of letting your brakes wear all the way out, having your pads checked every few thousand miles. The odds are you won’t need them replaced nearly that often, but it’s good to stay ahead of your repairs. If you catch a problem, you can have your brakes replaced quickly and relatively inexpensively.
Tires
If you’re like most drivers, you probably don’t think of our tires as the cause of major damage to your car. If you keep your tires properly inflated, rotate them as directed and change them out when the tread wears, you’re right.
If you drive on them too long, though, your tires can cause your problems.
Bad tires can ultimately become the culprits of everything from putting your car out of alignment to frame damage. If you want your car to stay on the road longer without major repairs, you’ll need to make sure you take care of your tires.
Change them out when appropriate and you’ll avoid most major disasters.
A little bit of prevention can help you to avoid many major car problems. You’ll spend a little now, but you’ll save quite a bit later. If you aren’t sure if a repair needs to be done, always err on the side of caution—you might take a small financial hit, but you won’t be stuck needing a tow.
Share this:
Category: Car Repair
