Comments on: Save now for car maintenance & repairs

By: Preparing for a frugal holiday road trip — Living Well on Less

Preparing for a frugal holiday road trip — Living Well on Less — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:04:52 +0000

[...] we didn’t want to take any chances on car trouble. So we took some money from our car maintenance fund for an oil change, tire rotation, and inspection to make sure everything is in good working [...]

By: Margot

Margot — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:59:12 +0000

A good way to save money is to do oil changes much less frequently than recommended. You can google the issue — I think Consumer Reports wrote about the topic as have other reputable entities. It turns out that the “every 3000 miles or 3 months” thing (not sure if I have that right) is entirely made up by the auto repair industry and our cars and safely go much longer without oil changes. Many car manuals actually say that you can do it less frequently. I read my old car manual, and it said either 5000 or 7000 miles.

By: The Happy Housewife

The Happy Housewife — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:35:19 +0000

We do the same thing, we put aside money every month for car repairs. This month we needed to spend about $20 on a small fix for our van, it just came out of the car fund, not the regular budget. It was nice! Toni The Happy Housewife’s last blog post..What a Mighty Good Man….

By: Tiffanie

Tiffanie — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:52:27 +0000

we have a 2006 car and although it is newer and doesn't need so much in the way of auto repairs or maintenance, we've gotten in the habit of saving $100 month in our auto maintenance fund. we factor in things such as new tires (over $500 on our car) and synthetic oil changes (less frequent, but more expensive), and license renewal. i'm glad we saved so much each month because not too long ago we needed all 4 tires replaced plus regular maintenance before winter, which we got at a discount through a friend who is a mechanic and owns his own business. but it was still pricey. we drained the account and had to start building it right back up! luckily, we won't need tires again for a while, but i've still gotten used to the $100/month :) Tiffanie’s last blog post..the one dollar give has begun!