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!

Fender Bender

I got in my first accident on Tuesday night, while driving to the gym in traffic. :( The person in front of me starting moving then stopped so abruptly that I plowed into her! Completely my fault and I take all responsibility. We are both okay though (thank goodness!) and we exchanged all the appropriate information. It was just a fender bender and my bumper looks way worse than hers, which is a good thing. I have about a 1-inch crack in mine and some scratching/scuffing but it's completely drivable.

She was really nice about the situation as she could tell I was rather upset. Then she offered to let me pay her outright if the damage is less than $500 instead of go through our insurances, so she's supposed to call me this weekend with a quote. Luckily, her car is a few years old and not high-end so I would be really surprised if the estimate is more than that! That was really nice of her, because I'd prefer it if my car insurance didn't go up, especially since I'm on the cusp of being 25 and haven't had an accident in my nine years of driving. I'm just glad it's not a full-flown accident or anything so I just have to wait and see what the outcome is. And I'm also glad I have over $800 in my car fund and a full emergency fund in case anything really bad had happened.

New Renter's Insurance and Car Insurance

I posted last month about getting renter's insurance. I lived in my previous apartment for 2 years without having it (!) and knew that had to change! It's been on my to-do list for way too long.

When I tried to get renter's insurance through my current car insurance company (AAA) to see if I could bundle and get a discount... I was told that I "live with too many additional roommates." Uhh, what? Even if I just want to insure myself, 3 people in an apt is too many? That's not right.

So, I got some quotes online from GEICO, State Farm and All-State. In the end, State Farm was the cheapest so yesterday I went to a nearby office and set up a policy! It ended being $180 for a year to insure $20K worth of stuff. Expensive but worth it and I'm so glad I finally have renter's insurance because you just never know.

While I was there, the (really nice) agent I was talking to asked me about my car insurance. I thought I was paying a decent amount through AAA, which is the company my parents have used for YEARS and where I went to get my insurance through last year when my car was officially titled over to me from my Dad. Well, after going back to the office today with my AAA policy coverage and amounts, State Farm matched the same coverages for $300 less per year! Plus, they don't charge interest if you pay monthly (just a flat debit fee each month, $1 or $2) and you pay in 6 month installments instead of annually. Oh, and then they immediately gave me a multi-policy discount due to my renter's insurance so I'll be receiving a check for $39 soon because it dropped from $180 to $141. Awesome!

It was a bit of an effort, but in the end it's saving me $300 per year... plus there are no more forms to fill out (everything's online) and there was hardly any paperwork. Hooray for State Farm and saving money! :)

The Price of Car Insurance

I purchased new car insurance a few months ago. As I was going through the sign-up process in-person, I was told I could pay the annual balance in full or pay month-by-month. Being a good personal finance blogger, I asked if there were any extra charges if I paid month-by-month and was told no, that I would only have to pay my full premium and I could get a 7% dividend back at the end of the year if everything is good. So, I paid a 20% downpayment and had officially purchased my very first installment of car insurance!

My first monthly bill came (last month) with no issues. However, this month's included a finance charge of 1.5% of the remaining balance. Huh?! I was never told about any finance charges! If it was a small $2 or $3 fee for the convenience of paying month-by-month online, I would be okay with it. But this was a lot more than that!

I called my insurance company this week and inquired about the charge. After being nice and letting the representative know that I never received any sort of notice or signed any agreement about it (she mentioned I should have signed a "Truth in Lending" form and received a copy of it), she eventually spoke with her supervisor and said if I paid the balance in full, that they would waive the finance charge. She also mentioned that I should call the office where I first signed up for my insurance and let the supervisor there know that I never received the notice. I kept letting her know that I felt misled, and of course thanked her for getting rid of the finance charge! The only problem is that it'll disrupt my cash flow a bit since it's a decent amount. I'm not 25 yet and live in California, so my car insurance is still somewhat pricey even with a clean driving record. But if it saves me a good chunk of money, I'd much rather do it!

How do you pay for your car insurance, in some type of installment or in one lump sum? Does your insurance charge you anything for paying a certain way?

Car Trouble!

I had a fantastic weekend but it ended with a little bit of car trouble. On Sunday around noon, my car battery completely died! I was in a large parking lot and luckily I have AAA, so I called them and they were able to jump-start my car... but not 5 minutes later, at a stoplight on the busiest street in the area, my car died in the middle of the road! The car locked up so the good samaritans who tried to help me couldn't put it in neutral to push it to the side of the road. Eventually I was able to get it towed to a Firestone where they ran an electrical test and confirmed that yes, it was indeed my battery.

$148.73 and a few hours later, my car is fixed and happy! (Thank goodness for my car fund, too.)

Quick Update

Just a quick update. I didn't get around to doing my usual weekend spending recap, but I definitely spent at least $150 over Memorial Day weekend! $60 of that was towards my car for an oil change, tire rotation and a new air filter (paid for out of my Car Fund!), $25 on some new earrings and just a lot of little things here and there: $9 at the bar, $15 on groceries, $50 on a wedding gift for my friend, etc.

I had a good weekend: the No Doubt concert was FANTASTIC (so much energy! and they played my 3 favorite songs!), went on a long hike with K and went out with some friends on Sunday night. This week I've been running around doing a bunch of things and yesterday I dealt with the HOA about my towing incident. Bottom line with that, they are going to "review" it and let me know if I'll get reimbursed...which makes me think it'll be HIGHLY unlikely. So, thank goodness for my 3rd paycheck of May tomorrow!

I've been putting of studying for the industry exam I am taking in December so I'm dedicating tonight (after the gym/dinner) and tomorrow to catching up some. I've been trying to study for at least 1 hour per night, 4x per week - taking Tuesday, Friday and Saturday off.

Happy almost Friday!

Car Got Towed :(

Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, my car was towed from the lot of our complex. I have a valid resident sticker and am allowed to park wherever I want: guest or resident spot. I have never been issued a warning before about parking in a guest spot, which I have done on occasion when there are no other spots available when I arrived home - and that is what happened on Monday night.

The towing fee was $263, plus I was 2.5 hours late to work. So frustrating. I discussed the situation with my landlord, the HOA and the security company which authorized the tow all day yesterday. I was supposed to be warned 24 hours prior to a tow, and the security company said they warned me on April 30th, but the tow was on May 4th and I was out of town all weekend! Basically, it was an improper tow as I never received a warning slip - or I would not have parked in a guest spot! It makes no sense at all.

I am presenting my case to the HOA board on May 27th to (hopefully) get my fees reimbursed. Worst comes to worst, this is a 3 paycheck month so the towing fees will be covered out from that and I'll have less to allocate to savings - but at least I won't have to dip into my E-fund!

Survey Checks!

I received 2 survey checks in the mail today. $3 from Pinecone Research and $10 from Your2Cents.

That $13 is going into my Car Fund!

Survey Check!

I received a $10 check from MySurvey this week. It is going straight into my Car Fund, as I hit 60,000 miles on my '02 Honda Civic last night!

Now I need to call and schedule the tune-up - hopefully I have enough in my Car Fund to cover the costs.

Survey Checks

Last week I received 2 more survey checks from Pinecone Research.

The $6.00 is going into my Car Fund this time. I need to make an appointment to have it checked out/tuned-up since I am basically at 60,000 mile mark! (It's a 2002 Honda Civic.)

Gas + MPG

It's nice to see the price of gas dropping slightly. A week and a half ago, I picked up gas for $4.49/gallon at Shell. I used my $20 monthly Shell gift card from work, so it only cost me $31.71. This weekend I picked up gas at Shell again - but for $4.39/gallon!

I have also been trying an experiment relating to mpg. In Southern California where I live, the average speed on the highway is around 70-80 mph. I have read a few articles and heard people say that to get the ideal/best gas mileage, you need to drive 60-65 mph. Basically that means I need to stay in the right-hand most lane or else I will cause someone to have a case of serious road rage. My Honda Civic had been averaging around 27 mpg for the past few months, but that was when I was doing all city driving and driving 70+ mph on the highway. Since my commute to work takes me 15 miles each way on I-5, I used that for my experiment for my last 2 tanks of gas:

At 65 mph, 11.4 gal tank @ 355.8 miles driven = 31 mpg
At 60 mph, 11.4 gal tank @ 363.4 miles driven = 32 mpg

More than anything else, I am excited that my mpg has increased by 4-5 mpg! It's nice to know that I am getting the most mileage out of my car, especially with gas prices the way they are. Do you do anything like this? How do you deal with the high price of gas?