by Adam Dawson
Over the weekend, I took Emily’s car in to get the brakes fixed. If you remember from our budget, we were supposed to do that next month. But, I had access to Emily’s car this weekend (she’s usually using it for furniture stuff on the weekends) so I decided to get the brakes done while I had the chance and switch my tires to next month.
We have been really impressed with her car. It is a tank and it runs like it’s new even though it has 179,000 miles on it. But since we bought it almost 2 years ago now, it seems like the brakes have always had trouble. We’ve had it in the shop 3 or 4 times in 2 years for brakes alone.
The shop had to resurface all 4 of the car’s rotors, so I was expecting to shell out a few hundred bucks for the fix. Turns out – the last brake job was recent enough that this was covered by warranty! I was out the door and only spent $26 on another couple little items. I don’t remember the last time I went to the mechanic and got out for only $26.
So – I decided to go ahead and get the tires done on my car that afternoon. Can I just say that I LOVE Discount Tire! I have been to at least 3 stores in the Austin area, and the customer service at every location has been second to none. Not to mention their prices. I am very impressed. They had me in and out with 4 new tires in less than an hour.
They do offer an extended warranty (certificate) for about 20% of the cost of a tire that basically replaces it for free if almost anything happens to it. I have never been an extended warranty kind of guy, but I did a little internet research and some people swear by this warranty at Discount Tire. I did not buy it this time, but I was wondering what others have done about this. Would you pay an extra $15 or so per tire for a big fancy replacement warranty?
Also, some people have mentioned saving over time for these infrequent expenses – how much do you set aside each month for car maintenance and replacement? Obviously we had some deferred maintenance but we’re starting to get caught up. I’m hopeful we don’t have to do much else until we can set aside some money for it.
I wouldn’t, because Discount fixed nail holes for free anyway. I learned that you can haggle there too, and it’s about the only place that I put that skill in to action. I always say that I want the mid-grade tire but financially, it’s not feasible, and they end up dropping some of the side fees. Last time it saved me over $100! Some times I get better luck than others but they will have my business for a long time. Congrats on your budget wins!
I set aside $50 a month for car maintenance/oil change for the two cars. I have one 2011 (new) car and a crappy frankenstein car that is holding onto dear life. So far, there hasn’t been any problems with this amount.
$50 is amazingly low. We budget $300 for two cars. But the average age is 15 years.
I just love it when stuff like this happens! Good job! Maybe you can throw that brake money to boost your savings or if you are good there, then the debt next month. Nicely done!
In case this happens again, never get your rotors resurfaced. Almost 100% of the time it is cheaper to just get them replaced. They nail you on the labor, while replacing rotors take all but 10 minutes to do. The rotors for my car costs about $70 a pair. Brakes are about half that price.
Thanks for bringing this up. I had wondered if it was really worth it to resurface. Sounds like I got lucky this time.
Car maintenance sucks…. I have an SUV that just keeps giving me trouble and dumping money into it constantly just kills the budget. I’m at the point where it almost might be more cost efficient to sell it and buy something else. You did good to be able to budget for yours, it gets really hard to do though once it seems like its in the shop every couple weeks…
Best of luck with your new tires! And no I wouldn’t go for the warranty
I am so happy to read that the bill was not what you expected! It’s great when things work out that way.
I tracked car expenses for 6 months in order to get a good picture of how much money needed to be set aside for car fixes. I get my oil changed every 3 months and have the tires rotated and balanced every 6 months. On top of that routine maintenance, we set aside about $50/month just for extra padding. SO that means, in our car fund, we have about $1,000 total ($400 for oil changes and tire rotations and small issues, $600 for crap that happens when you don’t expect it to). Since our car is newish and has low miles, we have not entered the ownership phase where that number should be doubled. Also, I have mentioned in a different comment: we only have one car and we are lucky to have great public transportation and have bicycles we can utilize in case something more expensive happens to our car.
I buy the tire warranty simply because new tires for both of our vehicles (large tires) runs about $1400 each. I buy from Goodyear and they offer the warranty at $15 extra per tire. It covers free repairs and if it’s not repairable, 75% cost per tire is covered. Free tire balance is also included. After having bought 3 new sets of tires this year, I like a little insurance, but I know it’s not for everyone.
We ‘budget’ roughly $500/year for repairs + 3 oil changes, so about $600/year. Works well for our older Toyota (super reliable). Translates to a brake job every couple years, new tires every 3-4 years, miscellaneous maintenance (timing belt, etc.) on the off years.
To be fair, we must drive a LOT less than you.
Also, because it is an older vehicle, the next repair that comes in over $500 or so (we’ve not had one yet, knock on wood) we’d strongly consider just purchasing a new vehicle. This is not the economical choice, but would be more of a peace of mind/convenience type of decision. I fully expect us to drive the new vehicle 10-15 years so not a hard one to make.
This one has always been a conflict for me. I figure that if you get a new car for $20k and drive it for 10 years, that’s still akin to making a payment of almost $200/month for the entire time. I’ve concluded that its probably better to buy a 2-3 year old vehicle even if you plan to drive the wheels off. It’s a tough call though. Thanks for chiming in on this one.
I think the 2-3 year old car is certainly the sweet spot in value. But, I imagine having never actually owned a brand new car, that the high you get from the “new car” off-gassing is priceless. 🙂
Most people don’t think about the amortized “per month equivalent” cost of a car even paid with cash, so I really like how you’ve pointed that out. Of course, the difference between a new car and lightly used car is not going to be $200/month, but more like $50/month (assuming getting roughly 25% off the cost of new). Still adds up, for sure.
Forgot to comment on the car maintenance/replacement fund:
I don’t budget monthly for car maintenance because our vehicles are newer and still under warranty. We have an oil change/tire rotation twice a year on both and I leave enough padding in the budget to suck up a $45 service when it comes up. I track it well in advance so it doesn’t sneak up on us. I’m not a fan of the extended warranty, but we did buy it on both vehicles and got it for a good price that covers 7yrs/100K miles. I’m really glad now that we did that since we paid both of them off and can now drive them worry-free the next 5 years. We plan on keeping them for 10 years.
I never want to take out another car loan again, so in order to pay cash in the future we’re saving $500/mo in a car replacement fund. This has been a bit of an argument since it’s like still having a car payment. For us, it’s a timing issue. Both vehicles will be nearing replacement right as we finish paying off the house and I’m concerned we won’t have enough time to save for two new ones and end up taking out more loans AGAIN.
I guess it just depends on your particular situation, how long you project your debt payoff to be and the age of your vehicles.
$500 a month sounds like a lot but I totally get it. You can hardly get a dependable car for less than $10k these days. In a 2 car household that adds up.
Food for thought: We bought a 2000 toyota camary in December of 2011 with 124,000 miles on it for $4000 cash (we live in Austin). We looked around for a solid month and a half until we found a car we knew had been taken really good care of, had new tires, had maintenance records, etc. We have put $900 into it. We plan to upgrade in the next few years with the cash we put aside. There are good cars out there for relatively cheap. The plan being they can last you for a few years until you can get out of debt!
We bought our son a 2006 Ford Fusion almost a year ago and paid $7500 cash for it. Overall it’s been a pretty good car so far, but we had to replace the tires already and had $600 in normal wear and tear type stuff. So, another $1500 sunk into this car. I’d rather not go this route for my own. While it would buy us some time, good used cars are really hard to find around here because everyone wants them and I fear it would be throwing good money after bad.
Yes, it is like a car payment every month, but the bonus is it’s a car payment that you could temporarily stop making if you lose your job or have some other unexpected financial issue come up. If you could “afford” a car payment then you can also afford to set aside that amount in advance and just pay cash when the time comes. When you pay cash you never have to worry that your situation will change 5 minutes after you sign the papers and agree to years of monthly payments.
We always pay cash, buy 3yr old vehicles and drive them for another 10 years. My current 2000 Civic is theoreticlally due for it’s replacement this year (3yr old car + 10 years) but since I worked from home for a few years it just hasn’t had the mileage put on it that my past Civics have, so I may get another year or even two out of it. The cash is set aside but it can just sit there until it’s needed. We have two vehicles and since we drive them both for 10 years, we have them on an alternating schedule and replace one every 5yrs to spread out the purchases.
This is exactly how I’m viewing it. Unfortunately, we purchased two new vehicles within a year of each other so we have to hope at least one of them will last several years longer and one of us will have to come to terms with driving an older vehicle longer. They’re both Hondas so I’m not that worried;)
My 1999 Honda Odyssey has 271,000 miles on it and it is still going strong. Got to love those Hondas. I did buy it brand new, back before our finances took a nose dive due to many bad family situations/medical bills not covered by insurance, etc. Excuses re the financial situation, but some at least are valid.
My point being, Honda is an excellent company and they stand behind their vehicles. Early on in my ownership of this car (around 5 years), the transmission went. The car was out of warranty and the repair was going to be prohibitively expensive. I contacted Honda USA and explained my Honda loyalty, the fact that I bought a new Honda at retail price (Odysseys were IT in 1999) and that I didn’t expect a blown transmission from Honda! They covered the replacement cost 100%.
I am so glad, given our current financial situation, that I have such a reliable vehicle. A new one is not in the future for us for a long time.
Good luck with your Hondas; I feel very confident that they will last you a good while.
Good to hear! These were our first Hondas and we LOVE them! One is 3.5 years old and the other is 2.5 years old and they still look and run brand new. This was not the case with our previous Toyota Tacoma. It was an awesome truck, but started to have fit and finish issues( annoying rattles and a power window gave out) at about 3 years. We sold it at 6 years old because it was developing major problems. It could’ve just been a fluke because Toyota’s usually last longer, but we won’t buy a Toyota again.
I LOVE Discount Tire. We always get our tires there and we do get the warranty. They replace the tire for free when there is a flat that can’t be repaired, side wall damage ect. Great customer service too!
This is exactly how I’m viewing it. Unfortunately, we purchased two new vehicles within a year of each other so we have to hope at least one of them will last several years longer and one of us will have to come to terms with driving an older vehicle longer. They’re both Hondas so I’m not that worried