75K Car Maintenance
My car needed a little bit of TLC. It hadn't had an oil change in over 5,000 miles and had recently passed the 75K mark. It's 8 years old and also had not had an sort of maintenance in... well, a long time! I'm honestly not the best at taking care of my car.
After going through some Yelp reviews, I called around. Per my owner's manual, I was under the impression that my timing belt/water pump/spark plugs needed to be replaced, as it stated at either 110K miles OR 7 years, whichever came first. One of the repair shops I called told me that I was definitely okay on waiting for that until I hit 105K miles since I don't drive in extreme conditions and have a very reliable car. What an honest, trustworthy mechanic to discuss that with me! The other places all just gave me quotes of $800+ without batting an eye!
I got the 75K mileage service which came with all the necessities and then, at the recommendation of one of the mechanics after they had checked out my car, I also got the brake fluid/transmission fluid/cabin filters flushed/fixed. I don't think any of that had ever been done!
I got a discount for providing my own air filter (which had been sitting in my trunk for over a year!) and a 10% discount for being a AAA member. Total cost came to $403.17. Pricey? Sure, but it would have been at least $200 more at the dealership plus I didn't do any "unnecessary" repairs! And now my car is happy...even if it still needs to washed and vacuumed. (They don't have an on-site detailer.) Glad I have enough in my car maintenance fund to cover the costs!
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6 comments:
I'm terrible on keeping up on car maintenance too. Good job at bringing your own filter and calling around. I had to replace three belts and my water pump. Came to about $520 :S
Seriously, $400 is nothing if you haven't been actively getting your car worked on. I've unfortunately spent about $3,000 this year on my car, and it's only got 55,000 miles on it. SIGH! (Basically I had some things break and I had some rusted parts replaced - living in Chicago sure messed up my car.)
That's not too bad. Don't you wish there was insurance for car repairs?! But, it would lead to major payouts on the end of the ins. companies so they'd never go for it. But, it sucks to have to put money in constantly to your car.
@Ness - If I had to get my belts & water pump replaced, it would be $800-$1K...yikes!
@Sara - You're right, $400 isn't much. But it is a big chunk all at once that I'm not used to! Sorry you've had so many car repairs this year :(
@Jerry - What an idea!
I just realized that you only have 75k miles on an 8 year old car. That's awesome =)
Preventative maintenance saves you money in the long run.
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