The financial benefits of maintaining our own cars

[TollKeeper]

I have been wrenching on cars since I was 5 years old. Helped my dad do brakes, head gaskets, transmissions, water pumps, etc.

It has taught me to be hands on with everything I do, the downside of that is that it also means that I am a tactile person. Reading a description about a something online (furniture, appliances, stereo equipment) does not work for me. I have to experience it.

Has it saved me money? Absolutely! My recent head gasket on my Saab would have run me close to 2000 bucks. I was able to do it, with mostly GM OEM parts, for 350.

The downside is, everyone calls me, I got a check engine light, my car is grinding, is this a good car, etc.

I might have -been- a GM ASE Certified Tech, but I no longer do it cause my back can no longer do it, day after day, hour after hour. I dont like working on my own cars, it HURTS! But I am broke, so I cant afford a shop either!

 

[CaptainAmerica1]

I might have -been- a ASE Certified Master Tech, but I no longer do it cause my back can no longer do it, day after day, hour after hour. I dont like working on my own cars, it HURTS! But I am broke, so I cant afford a shop either!

I can neither confirm nor deny this may be true…

 

[pwtr02ss]

Same here, I wasted the rest…

Pills and wh*res. Amiright

 

[CaptainAmerica1]

Lol

 

[doc5339]

I find I can hoist beer better if I have my son do the wrenchin' nowadays; easier on the back too!

 

[tom3]

Have to consider that right now a 5 or 6 year old truck with 200K miles on it is going for $25k and up. People are actually paying that.

 

[Just Fishing]

Oh I have saved a ton of money by doing my own work over the years.
This also comes from it being difficult to find a decent mechanic.

Lots of places they might have one or two good techs, but those guys are really busy and you're not likely to have them work on your stuff.

Just oil changes, how often do you hear about horror stories?
Leaks after changing the oil because the oil change tech was an idiot/lazy, forgot to put oil in the car, not enough oil.
Yet the dumb ****** still drove the car around front for you to pick up and didn't notice the valve train noise.

[rant]
then the "why the fk did you pull my ******** air filter out, let along asking me if i want to replace a perfectly good filter that now has greasy fingerprints all over??!"
Then knowing they will probably strip the plastic threads reinstalling the damn thing.
Or like discount tire did with my lug nut covers on the tahoe this last time.
dumb pos put the cover on in the wrong orientation, and decided he was going to force it on there.
Luckly, it didn't break the tabs, but it did bend them.
I had to use heat to straighten them out.

Yup, before I went in there, I thought about taking the covers off first, but I figured this is a common enough vehicle it should be fine right?

[/Rant]

I consider myself to be decent at troubleshooting issues most of the time.
+ I find it entertaining.

The money I save, I can then justify having "toys" or even an old sports car to play around with.


It's also great IMO to know exactly what was done, and what parts were used.

I can then justify buying tools to help me along my way, heck most of the time for jobs that require special tools is still cheaper after all is said and done than paying someone else to do it.

My transmission for instance, that job saved me thousands of dollars vs having someone else do the work or buying a remanufactured unit.
+ there is absolutely no question about what parts and upgrades I used.

Bad part, it took me some decent amount of time to research and detail everything out.
if this was a daily driver, it could have been an issue.

 

[Matt1t]

For me, I'd rather do the work myself as I just don't like going to the dealer or shop, having to schedule an appointment and then waiting around. By the time I've done all that. I could have had the part delivered to the house and do the job on my time. This is for a job that I'm willing to do of course. As one member said he wanted to save his back on the spark plug job.... Holy crap that last plug was a bear. I was contorted in all sorts of ways, so I don't blame him there! What also comes into play is if the vehicle is your daily driver. If you are 100% reliant on it for day to day activities then you take it in to get fixed quick, but you pay the premium price. For those fortunate enough to have a spare vehicle to use, that certainly helps. Working remote is also an added benefit. Great discussion!

 

[BG1988]

I have been wrenching on cars since I was 5 years old. Helped my dad do brakes, head gaskets, transmissions, water pumps, etc.

It has taught me to be hands on with everything I do, the downside of that is that it also means that I am a tactile person. Reading a description about a something online (furniture, appliances, stereo equipment) does not work for me. I have to experience it.

Has it saved me money? Absolutely! My recent head gasket on my Saab would have run me close to 2000 bucks. I was able to do it, with mostly GM OEM parts, for 350.

The downside is, everyone calls me, I got a check engine light, my car is grinding, is this a good car, etc.

I might have -been- a GM ASE Certified Tech, but I no longer do it cause my back can no longer do it, day after day, hour after hour. I dont like working on my own cars, it HURTS! But I am broke, so I cant afford a shop either!

but GM ASE techs aren't that great though they claimed the battery was bad in my dads car 2018 sonic but I put the battery in my tahoe and it worked just fine and charged to 12.9volts and tested at 600CCA out of 630 rated

I quickly diagnosed as a parasitic draw the relay were malfunctioning as i had also tested that pressing the start button (sometimes the relays were not clicking off or on i.e stuck on when should be off) ...

 

[TollKeeper]

but GM ASE techs aren't that great though they claimed the battery was bad in my dads car 2018 sonic but I put the battery in my tahoe and it worked just fine and charged to 12.9volts and tested at 600CCA out of 630 rated

I quickly diagnosed as a parasitic draw the relay were malfunctioning as i had also tested that pressing the start button (sometimes the relays were not clicking off or on i.e stuck on when should be off) ...

No arguments there... There are a lot of bad, line item, mechanics. More lines, more pay.