Car Repairs: Biofriendly necessity or waste of money?

 

Image by sylvar  

Something happened the other day to a friend of mine that got me thinking, are car repairs and car maintenance a biofriendly necessity in this day and age or are they just a waste of money?

As most of us know, new cars tend to come with a maintenance plan (or at least one you can add on to the purchase price of the car).  If you take advantage of this plan, you can go in and get regular oil changes, tires rotated, liquids checked, brakes checked, etc.  Each of these things along with good driving skills, use of a good fuel additive, decent road conditions, etc. help keep your car running well and contribute to increasing your fuel economy and lowering your harmful emissions.  

But let’s say you have a used car and/or something goes wrong?  Let’s say, for example, your check engine light goes on.  What do you do then?  It’s not something you want to ignore because heaven forbid you all of a sudden break down.

My friend had her check engine light go on a few weeks ago so she took her car to an auto repair shop.  She then received a call from them telling her she had a cracked cylinder and it would cost around $4000 for it to be replaced.  She didn’t know much about cars but she knew she didn’t have that kind of money and besides, that was more than the car was even worth.  What now?  Luckily, when she told her husband he suggested they get a second opinion.  They took the car to a different repairman and he told them there was no cracked cylinder…that’s right, no cracked cylinder.  He told them what was wrong and that it would cost a little under $200 for him to fix it.  Needless to say, they had him do the repairs.

What would you have done in that situation?  Well, I know for me, I try to get at least 2-3 quotes on almost everything I do.  Especially nowadays, I want to find the best deal at the lowest price, so I think it’s worth shopping around.  But how do you know you aren’t being “taken”…this blog I found gives some common sense tips on how to get an accurate car repair assessment and estimate.

Car repairs are sometimes a necessity just to keep your car running much less running well.  But when it all comes down to being biofriendly or a waste of money…well, I guess that depends on where you go.  I say keeping your car well-maintained is good for you and for the environment.  Just be careful not to get ripped off.