by Jim
So today I promised a post about how I fared in the month of May. I was working on it, and around 50% thru it, I remembered that these type of posts are supposed to come out during the week. So Tuesday the post will definitely be ready.
Today I wanted to talk about Car Repairs and how to account for them. This past week I started hearing my brakes grinding against my rotors. Something I totally wasn’t expecting, since we have only had the van for a little over three months. Upon closer inspection it was indeed what I suspected. After a few curses and whatnot I looked at my warranty. In most cases brakes aren’t included in the warranty, which was my case. After researching the prices for both brakes and rotors, I called up the dealership where I bought them and asked for a rough estimate. I was quoted at $180, which wasn’t that bad, $50 dollars more than the parts. So I take it to the dealership.
Now I usually do my own brakes and oil changes, but I simply didn’t have the time to do it this week, and they definitely needed to be done before this weekend. Well after the inspection of the mechanic told me it would post $360 just to replace my rear brakes and rotors. He then said my front brakes would need replacing and the rotors cut, which would rake me another $175. Plus on top of all that the front tires will need to replaced.
After looking at the estimate, I realized they were nearly doubling the parts cost. So I declined their service. I paid them for an oil change and labor, which amounted to $66.67. From there I called my mechanic that I use when I can’t do a project myself, and got a quote around $300 for my rear brakes and rotors. Both mechanics said they got their quotes from a parts store, but when I checked this store’s prices online neither of them matched up to what the mechanics said.
I know I should have just paid for one of these quotes but I couldn’t fathom this price. So I reached out to my network online and see if anyone could do breaks. One of my friends put me in contact with a mechanic that said he would do it for $70, if I brought the parts with me. I jumped at the chance. This mechanic was great, and will probably be my new mechanic. All in all $153 (plus a $20 Mail in Rebate)for all the parts, plus $80 for the guy. And this was for both my rear brakes and rotors, and front brakes with rotors cut.
All together with the crappy inspection from the dealership it was close to $300. Now it would have cost me half that price, if I did them myself. But I was truly not expecting that my brakes and rotors would need replacing after only 5000 miles.
LESSON LEARNED.
So my question for everyone is, would this be considered an emergency or should I take out from debt payment this month? I know I will need new tires, hoping to get through the month, should I do the same next month?
Really interested what everyone has to say.
This isn’t an emergency, so I would not dip into that fund unless the alternative is putting it on a credit card you can’t pay in full when the next bill comes. Which means you either pay off less than planned toward debt, or you find another place to make up the $300 shortfall in your budget. It’s early in the month, see how far you can get.
Going forward, though, you could include an Auto Maintenance line item in your budget and set the funds aside each month, tapping into those funds as needed.
If this is a business expense vehicle, then it’s different. If allowed, you could pay it from business funds instead where you already maintain a separate account.
In this case, I would take it from any “extra” that you would be putting toward debt, just to prevent putting it on a CC. I don’t consider this an “emergency.”
I agree that you may want to think about a car line item in the budget to account for routine maintenance and future repairs. We put $50 a month towards this stuff, which is great for small repairs and such. Larger repairs (which in my world happen all the time!) may not be covered at this amount, but it helps.
Thank you AS and Mysti. I think you are right, I will see what I can do about adding this in next month.
I have not budgeted for car repairs and as a result, I have let my brakes and rotors go so long without fixing — and tires, I should add — that I don’t have much choice now but to get a whole new car.
I personally would rather pay cash for the repairs, wherever the cash has to come from, than put it on a card. Even if I can’t pay down debt as fast as I would like to, I will do anything in my power not to incur new debt. JMO.
Thanks Helene… It wouldn’t have been new debt I would have incurred, just was wondering if I should take it from the Emergency Fund or the Debt Payment fund.
1. Don’t take it from the emergency fund.
2. Add a line item for Auto Maintenance to your budget.
3. Read through your manual to see what the recommended time frames are for repairs.
4. Have your new mechanic check out your vehicle to see if he’d recommend any other repairs. Even if you don’t get them done now, you know what is needed and won’t be “surprised”.
5. Read through your warranty so you know what is covered. Then go back and look at the manual’s maintenance schedule and the possible repair items from your mechanic to determine which if any are covered under that warranty. If none of those items are covered, you’ll know what you need to save.
6. Keep a list in your car repair book of every repair with the date and amount. That way, at the end of the year, you’ll have a more accurate picture of how much your car repairs were for the year, then divide that by 12 and that would be your auto maintenance budget amount for the following year. I keep a list of every repair I have done on my car and keep it for the life of my car.
As this point in the budget payoff, I think you should have done it yourself. You are short on cash and have more time without a full time job. When money is tight like that, you can’t afford convenience items.
Great ideas Mary! Thanks so much, I already keep a list of all repairs and dates of them, but I never thought to find next years amount, thanks again!
It seems like car repairs trip up a lot of people. Since no one really knows how much they will cost every year, its easy to ignore the category. It is infrequent and unpredictable, but to be expected. I’d take it out of debt repayment this month, and then create a line item for auto repairs in your budget. Save up every month for it.
Thanks Scooze!
Yes, take the money for the brakes this time from the emergency fund AND pay it back to the fund. Then add a ‘savings account’ for car repairs and maintenance as you know that they will be upcoming.
Also $66 for an oil change that you could do yourself in 20 minutes is not an emergency. You know it comes up and can plan for it. You did not shop around enough before getting the oil change done either.
You are so right, I wasn’t thinking it was an emergency, just an added convenience, since I was thinking I was getting my brakes fixed there. It was $30 for the oil change and the rest was the labor time for the mechanic to look at what was wrong in the first place.
$30 is a reasonable amount, it usually costs me around $23-$25 to do my own oil change.
Just a guess – do you have a Dodge Caravan?
Our Caravan and then PT Cruiser could hardly go 6 months without new brakes. When we traded the Caravan for an Odyssey, I was shocked that my brake budget line was halved! Then the PT’s brakes started to go every 3 months because we weren’t driving it. So we sold it and created a budget line for ‘second car expense’ which allows me to rent a car whenever we really need two. Less convenient than just hopping in the second car but not really, since I was spending a lot of time sitting at brake shops waiting for the car to be serviced again. Same amount of time spent on the car, just in different ways.
Oh god please don’t tell me this Kate! Yes it is a Dodge Grand Caravan.
I put a little money aside each month for car repairs, but with LOTS of them happening at once lately, I’ve had to decrease my debt repayment and savings amounts 🙁
I felt that way with my last care Shoe… it was one thing after another.
Any time an expense comes up that I haven’t anticipated I reevaluate my budget. If I think it will come up again, I find a place for it in the budget. Auto repairs? Budget for it. They will happen.
Also, it doesn’t matter if this could be considered an emergency or not. Either you pay for it out of your cash flow and reduce debt payments this month or you take it out of your emergency fund, which you then have to restock by reducing your debt payments. You end up in the same place, so just save yourself the money shuffling and pay for it from monthly cash flow. Rather than figuring out if something is an emergency or not, I just treat it as a last line of defense. Expenses come out of the budget first, planned saving next (auto repair fund, in this case), extra cash flow third, and finally I would consider my emergency fund. That obviously only applies to needs, not wants.