4 Ways To Afford Car Repair Costs
Being a car owner comes with several costly responsibilities, such as tax, insurance, and repairs.
In this article, we’ll focus on helping you to afford the expected and unexpected repairs on your vehicle to ensure you can keep your car on the road.
To begin with, we look at building a healthy lump sum of savings.
1. Savings
It helps to save up some money specifically for repairs on your vehicle. This way, when your car needs fixing, you can dip into your pot and pay for the garage to fix the car quickly.
Here are some common vehicle repairs car owners experience;
- Clutch or cambelt replacement
- Worn brake pads and disc
- A dead battery that needs replacing
- Old cylinder head gasket
The cost of car repair varies depending on the country you are based in and the garage you go to.So, if you have time, it’s wise to ask a local garage for a rough estimate of how much these car repairs could cost you so that you can save enough to cover them if or when they happen. You can find quality vehicle parts at Automotive Stuff.
2. Finance
If your car needs a repair fixing now, but you don’t have any savings to cover it, the next best thing you can do is opt for a payment plan to cover the repair, which breaks the car repair price down into affordable installments.
In turn, you can avoid leaving your vehicle in the garage and get it fixed much sooner.
3. Breakdown Cover
A must-have backup plan for any vehicle owner is a breakdown cover.
Some breakdown cover plans offer an array of benefits that support car owners with the cost of car repair, so keep an eye out for these.
It’s advisable to read through the details of numerous breakdown plans to ensure it covers what you need.
Cover can include;
- Towing the car to a location or garage of your choice
- Diagnosis of the vehicle’s problem and an idea of how much it will cost to fix it
- A supplement of cash from the breakdown company to help you pay for specific repairs
4. Insurance
Every car owner should have insurance to cover themselves and their vehicle in a situation such as a car crash. As the damage often exceeds what most people can afford to pay out from their savings.
This is why it’s also important not to skimp on car insurance from the offset and keep voluntary contributions to a minimum.
Above all, preventing car repairs is better than fixing them in any instance, so where possible,
Keep your vehicle in good shape by working through these maintenance tasks regularly;
- Check the level and consistency of the engine oil routinely to see whether it needs topping up or a complete oil change.
- Check the tires’ tread depth to ensure the car has enough grip to adhere to the road, particularly in poor weather conditions.
- Top up the tires with the air pressure recommended in the car manufacturer’s guide.
- Ensure the engine coolant is at the recommended level and top up accordingly.
- Test the brakes by performing an emergency stop on a quiet back road to check their effectiveness.
- Keep the battery alive for motors that are hardly used by turning the vehicle on or taking it for a spin at least once a week for 15 minutes or more.
While the above tips will help to keep your car in a safe condition on the road, wear and tear on vehicular components is inevitable. As such, no one should rely on the above maintenance tips alone to keep their car running.
And everyone should expect that at some point in their car’s life, it will need maintenance by a professional mechanic. Therefore, making sure you have a financial plan in place to fund repairs at the garage is essential.
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