Owning a car provides many benefits that more than make up for the costs involved. At the same time, the costs involved with owning a vehicle are real, and at times, significant. To ensure you can pay for these expenses when they arise, it’s important to save for them before they occur. To help you prepare to take care of your vehicle without breaking the bank, here are four car repair funds you’ll want to start saving up.
Transmission Troubles
Without an operating transmission, your car will be stuck on the side of the road. If your transmission acts up, though, it can be quite expensive to fix. Due to the large amount of machinery involved, it can cost between $2,800 to $4,000 to repair or replace a failed transmission. Since even diagnostic costs can be high, it’s important to save some extra cash in case this critical part stops working.
Body Damage
Most people can tolerate a few dents and dings on their vehicle’s exterior. Some damage, however, can make your vehicle unsafe or impractical to drive, meaning it will need to be repaired. Due to the skill and time required to perform repairs such as auto hail damage repair, the cost can be significant, depending on the extent of the damage. You’ll want to be sure to use a reputable repair shop to ensure the repairs are done correctly and safely.
New Tires
Though tires aren’t the most expensive vehicle repair, it is one of the most common repairs, meaning you’ll probably need to take care of it at some point or another. The price of tires can vary widely depending on the performance characteristics of the tires you choose. You’ll also want to budget for regular tire rotations to help your new tires last as long as possible.
Catalytic Converter
A catalytic converter is responsible for changing your engine exhaust into carbon dioxide and water. Though catalytic converters are supposed to last for the life of your vehicle, they can and do fail. Interestingly, catalytic converters contain precious metals that serve in the exhaust conversion process while you’re driving. Unfortunately, this means that new catalytic converters can set you back upwards of $2,000 or more, so you’ll definitely want to budget to have yours replaced.
With so many potential expensive vehicle repairs, it can be difficult to save so that you have enough funds for any given repair at a given time. To help with this, you can budget some money each month to put in a general car repair fund that you can draw on whenever you face a significant car repair expense. This will help soften the blow of the expense without forcing you to devote an unnecessarily large amount of your monthly budget to car repairs that you may or may not ever have to pay for.