Five Tips for Saving on Car Repairs
I recently had the misfortune of filling up my car’s gas tank at Costco, only to find my car had stalled and wouldn’t start after I filled up my tank. Lovely. Luckily, the nice gas station attendant helped push it to a nearby parking spot and I roamed inside Costco while I waited on Roadside Assistance to come help a sister out. It took Roadside Assistance approximately 30 minutes to get there, and I headed back to the car to meet them when they called to tell me they were on their way. While I was waiting in the car, my Mom called and said “Have you tried to start it?” No, Mom, I hadn’t thought of that. The funny thing was, it actually started. Great, problem solved, right?
Wrong.
Fast forward a week or two to the next time I was filling up my gas tank, and the same thing happened. The car wouldn’t start.
So I went to a local auto parts store, had them hook the car up to their computer thingy and give me the problem codes. The problem had something to do with a purge valve, and, according to my local repair shop, it needed replacing. To the tune of something upwards of $600. Ouch.
I wasn’t ready to just fork over the $600+ dollars without a fight, and some investigating to see if I could get a better deal. All told, I only paid $440.95 for the repairs, and learned some helpful hints about reducing car repair costs in the process. So, I thought I’d share them with you here!
5 Tips for Saving Money on Car Repairs
Recalls and Warranties. Check to see if the repair is covered by a recall or a warranty. If so, you may have to pay nothing out of pocket, or you may pay a drastically reduced price. In the US, SaferCar.gov (powered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) allows you to look up recalls by your car’s VIN number. You can check it out HERE.
Get a Second Opinion. Don’t go with your first estimate. The first quote you got may be the best market price, but it may also not be. Don’t be afraid to shop around for a better quote. But, a word of caution: my local shop charges a diagnostic fee upwards of $100. This was true even though I came to them with the diagnostic code I already got from the auto parts store for free. They credit the cost of repairs against that fee, but still, it may not be worth it to be-bop around town getting estimates, if every shop is going to charge such a high diagnostic fee. Find out your shop’s diagnostic fee first before getting any repair estimates.
Price the Parts Yourself. You can often save some money by providing the parts yourself and just paying for labor. Price the parts yourself from verified online parts dealers and just then pay labor to the auto shop. We all know that labor is typically the most expensive part of a car repair, so finding ways to save on labor would be beneficial, too, Which leads me to my next tip:
Perform the Repair Yourself or Barter for the Repair Service. Maybe your’re a totally fantastic and competent mechanic who can just do the repairs yourself. If so, good for you! You probably don’t even need to be reading this post. But for the rest of us, it may be helpful to consider whether we know any friends or family members who can do the repairs for us. You can pay them a discounted rate, and throw in some pizza and beer (or whatever floats their boat) along with your undying gratitude. To make the deal even more frugal, offer to trade services—can you provide babysitting for a certain amount of time in exchange for the repair work? Do you have a special service you can offer in return? If so, you can get the repairs done for just the price of the parts, which may help to significantly reduce overall cost of repairs.
Special Discount Days and Coupons. Look for days where your repair shop offers certain discounts. Is there a seniors day? A woman’s day? Take grandpa or the wifey or whomever with you and get those discounts! Also look out for coupons in the mail. My shop sends these out periodically, and I used one on the repairs I just had done. In fact, I had two coupons—one for $50 and one for $25. The $25 coupon was not set to expire until May 2019. The shop graciously agreed to honor the value of both coupons—just out of the niceness of their hearts—and gave me $75 off the repair, and let me keep the $25 coupon for next time. Talk about great for business! I’ll definitely be back.
If you have any tips for saving on the cost of car repairs, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below. And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, where I post more frequently and spend way too much of my free time.
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