Car Care – Dealing With Your Beater
Welcome to Car Care – Automopedia’s advice section on caring for your vehicle. Today, we help you deal with that beater. Oh, and Edmunds.com lends us some advice too.
With today’s economy in the toilet, car owners are taking what they feel is a savvy approach to keeping an automobile. The trend is known as having a “transitional vehicle” – used cars, purchased on the cheap, to get you through a period between owning new ones. Many feel it saves money – but when getting into a beater, it’s good to know what to expect.
In the end, you might end up spending more on it than payments of a new car (take it from me, someone who purchased a used mid-90′s Toyota for around $2500, and pumped almost $5000 into it during one year).
Edmunds helped with this breakdown of how to keep that beater:
Maintain what could cause your vehicle to lose control: braking system, tires, steering, etc. Keep a close eye on everything under the hood: This includes radiator hoses, fuel lines, CV joints and fan, and timing belts. Check the oil daily / weekly.
Having a friend around who knows cars (assuming you do not) also helps. If replacement parts are needed, scour craigslist.org or flea markets.
Insuring your beater is typically inexpensive, and many won’t put out for anything above liability coverage. Keep in mind, that old vehicle you’re commuting in has a low resale value. Translation: one small accident could render it “totaled” and then you’ll be without a car once again.
So, how do you know when it’s time to dump the beater? For some, it depends on current financial situations. Do you now have enough money to put down on a new(er) vehicle?
Here’s the best way to know that it’s time to drop the used car – as stated above, are you spending more in a year to maintain it than you paid for the car? That’s a sign, when your $1500 car kills its $2500 transmission. He’s dead Jim.
Source: Edmunds.com
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