20 Ways to Save Money on Your Car, Part 3

Here's part 3 of a money saving article written backwards from Money Central. The title is "20 Ways You Waste Money on Your Car", but it really offers 20 ways to save money on your car. Here are the tips for this time around:

• Not replacing your air filter and wiper blades yourself.
• Going to any old repair shop.
• Changing your antifreeze every winter.

My thoughts on each of the tips above (in order):

1. I haven't yet graduated to the air filter, but I do buy my own wiper blades. Wal-mart has an easy-to-use book (electronic in some stores) that gives you the wiper options that work on your make and model car. It's simple to pick out the right ones and if you only have an ounce of mechanical ability, you can install them with no problem. Anything UNDER the hood (other than wiper fluid) is a different story for me. ;-)

2. My advice: ask your friends for a reference. It's likely that they've been through the mechanic ringer a few times and have identified a good one, so why shouldn't you benefit from their knowledge? However, some people guard their prized mechanic information the same way they hide the name of a good baby sitter. I've always found that a nice pizza dinner can get them to talk, though. ;-)

3. I've certainly got this covered. I don't think I've changed my anti-freeze since 1998. Ok, seriously, I have the garage check it regularly (whenever I'm in for a service) and have it replaced every two years or so. On the AC front, I keep forgetting to run it in the winter. There's something about zero-degree temperatures that doesn't really help bring "run the AC" to mind.

Click here to read part 4 of this series.

Comments

[Blaine Moore (Run to Win)]

Air filters are really easy, just look in your owners manual. Generally, you just need to lift a cover, pull the dirty filter out, put the clean one in, and replace the cover. It's easier than adding windshield washer fluid.

[FMF]

Easier than windshield washer fluid? I'm there!!!!!

[M.Keskes]

Regarding #3 about the A/C, your A/C compressor is run every time you turn on your Windshield Defogger, it removes the moisture from the air run through so as to not add more condensation to your windshield while trying to defrost it.

[Cujo]

Air filters aren't quite as cut-and-dried as this suggests. Two examples: (1) My current van has a cabin air filter behind the glovebox that filters the air coming in from the A/C. My local lubey-lube wants $40 to replace it. My local auto parts stores charge $30 for it, but much of the time they are out of stock. Online, the prices are about the same, but with shipping it comes out close to $40. I call it worth $10 not to drive to 3 parts stores. Example (2): In my previous van, the air filter was (stupidly enough) deep in the engine - about 30 minutes' worth of dis-/re-assembly. I'm happy to pay lubey-lube's $8 markup to avoid that. Finally, note that ineffective wipers frequently don't need to be replaced - they just need to be cleaned.