Car repairs can often break the bank, especially when your car breaks down unexpectedly. However, while car problems cannot be avoided altogether, there are some things you can do to minimize the cost of repairs. Here is how to do it…

Do some maintenance yourself

You don’t have to be an expert mechanic to perform basic servicing chores like oil changes, rotating tires, replacing spark plugs, and the like yourself. You only need basic tools for these kinds of jobs, and you could save a ton of money as well.

Other tasks you could do yourself include changing wiper blades, keeping the lug nut of car wheel tight, and maintaining the correct tire pressures to minimize premature tire wear.

Keep to the maintenance schedule

Maintenance and service schedules are designed to identify potential problems, and to avoid those problems by regularly replacing parts that have finite service lives. Items like filters, spark plugs, drive belts, hoses, batteries, and brake pads/discs all have the potential to cause secondary damage when they fail.

Therefore, by replacing these items when they are due for replacement, you largely avoid the potentially huge and mostly unexpected repair bills that come with fixing secondary damage. Besides, regular servicing and maintenance spreads your maintenance bills over a longer period, meaning that each bill is smaller, which makes it easy to budget for.

Stick to one repair shop

It is important to establish a relationship based on trust with your preferred repair shop because if you have such a relationship, there is almost no possibility that you will be over charged or billed for unnecessary work.

Many repair shops reward loyal customers with discounted prices, special offers, and even preferential treatment, meaning that if you only deal with a trusted shop you could get your car back quicker, and at a lower price than you would have paid elsewhere.

Don’t ignore warning signs

Most car problems will give some advance warning that something is wrong somewhere. For instance, strange noises, smells, and vibrations all indicate some kind of problem, which could turn into huge repair bills if they are not investigated and corrected in time.

Get to know how your car; how it responds to the throttle, steering, and brakes are good indicators of its overall condition, and bear in mind that not all faults and defects will trigger warning lights on the dashboard. Any deviation from how your car usually responds means that something is wrong, so don’t ignore it- get it fixed as you can, while it may still be cheap to repair.

Prepare your car for different seasons

Severe winter conditions place huge strains on any car, and to keep to running well during the depths of winter requires some basic preventative actions. For instance, flush the cooling system, and replace the coolant with the correct concentration of anti-freeze in the water. This will prevent the coolant from freezing, which could cause the engine block to crack-, which requires a hugely expensive engine replacement to fix.

Similarly, replace the coolant in preparation for the summer to prevent the engine from overheating, which is also hugely expensive to repair, since it could destroy the engine if it happens. These steps only cost a few dollars, but not spending these few dollars now could cost you thousands of dollars in unnecessary repair bills later on.

Article Submitted By Community Writer