Mar 29th, 2008
Economy of Technology: DIY Vehicle Maintenance
What kinds of things are you willing to do yourself in the name of frugality? Frugal Dad recently blogged about his adventure in toilet repair; one of the things I’m planning on taking up in the next few days is growing vegetables at home, particularly after a blog post indicating the return on investment might be as high as 200 times!
What about maintaining your own car or truck?
I ask this question because I took my truck in for routine alignment this past week (routine because I have a lifetime alignment agreement with a national chain, so I take the truck in every six months whether it’s steering weird or not) and the nice lady in line in front of me agreed to pay the place $16 to change a light bulb.
For her rear license plate.
That can be changed without tools.
The bulb costs $.89 at WalMart the last I checked.
I know this because she has the same model and year truck as I do. In fact, the same store a few years ago asked me if I wanted them to change it and I said, no, thanks, I’ll handle it, which I did, in under ten minutes.
I realize there are some people who are intimidated by anything mechanical, and there are some folks who don’t realize how easy some of this is. I just can’t understand how someone able bodied would willingly pay $16 for a $.89 bulb and less than ten minutes of work with your hands and no tools. It seems to me to be a rather significant waste of money to spend that way.
Other things to do yourself to keep your vehicle going:
Oil and filter changes
Radiator fluid flushes and changes
Washing
Waxing
Cleaning the engine compartment
Spraying plastic and rubber parts with silicone
Thermostat changes (I change mine with prevention in mind every two years)
Brake pad changes
Chassis lubrication
Tire rotation
Some of these require special tools, all of them require a bit of work, but none of them are incredibly difficult (and I do all of them myself).
What vehicle maintenance are you willing to do yourself?
