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If you’re one of the many Americans holding onto their cars for the longer haul these days, you’ll want to be planning for both routine maintenance expenses and repair bills. You can feel smug every month you don’t have to make a new car payment, and as your car ages your insurance premiums will drop along with your Connecticut personal property tax payment on your vehicle.
You can even keep “making car payments” after your loan has been repaid, but instead of sending them to a lender put the payment in your bank! Say you used to owe $300/month in car payments. Deposit that same amount into savings for a new car each month, and you’ll have almost $11,000 for a new car down payment in about three years.
“With new cars, you’ve got your new car payment that can be pretty high, plus taxes. In Connecticut, property taxes and insurance for new cars are much higher than for an older car. On the other hand, you need to maintain that older car. If repairs start to exceed the value of the car, then you should think about a new car,” advises Rocky Subramani, service advisor at in West Simsbury, Connecticut.
advises, “In the absence of a gigantic repair bill – you need a new engine, for example – an old car is almost always cheaper to own than a new one.”
“If you really want to know the best way to maintain your car, I tell customers to be religious about routine maintenance like oil changes,” says Subramani. He gives Motorin’ Momma an insider’s inexpensive insurance tip: set your oil change sticker to 3,500 miles. Even though Honda recommends oil changes when the car reaches 15% of oil life, “We tell customers to change the oil between 3,500 and 5,000 miles. Then, while they’re here, we do a multi-point inspection, let them know what’s going on with the car, and help them plan out future maintenance items,” he explains.
“The typical oil change here is $39.95 with 0/20 weight synthetic oil, and $27 for cars using 5/30 or 5/20 weight oil. All the fluids are checked and topped off, we go through the car for a safety inspection, check the lights, horn, wipers, etc. You get factory-trained technicians working on your car. We even throw in a car wash! What’s great is that we can identify any small problems before they get to be bigger ones.”
recently released its Vehicle Health Index report for 2012, based on more than 163,000 specific repairs on 136 million model year 2002 to 2012 vehicles. “Surprise, surprise, older cars don’t necessarily start to become maintenance hogs after the payments are all made,” says at SaturdayMechanic.com. “Older cars are not over-represented in the numbers, which should allow a savvy driver who keeps his or her vehicle properly maintained on the road longer.”
The CarMD report advises, “Ignore a spark plug problem (currently the no. 6 most common problem) and a $10 part could turn into a $300 ‘ignition coil and spark plug’ repair (currently the no. 4 most common repair). Ignore that and you may need to replace your car’s catalytic converter at an average cost of $1,000 (no. 3 most common repair). The 15 least expensive repairs in the CarMD database account for nearly 10% of all repairs and average only $72.03.”
“I really have to say, as long as you maintain Hondas they don’t really tend to break down!” Subramani says confidently. “The majority of what we do is preventative maintenance. We help customers avoid the most common mechanical breakdowns: alternators going bad, radiators going bad and the like.”
Sure, the new cars have amazing new technologies – and that awesome “new car smell”. They’re tempting, but so is hanging on to your older car and saving some money while you’re at it; especially if your beloved older road warrior is in good condition. That’s where Terry Walters finds herself.
The Avon mom of two teens is author of the . She drives a 2004 Honda Pilot and still loves it after all these years. I can relate – my Honda Pilot is the same vintage, and is such a wonderfully practical family car that I have trouble thinking about living without it! Terry’s Honda Pilot is coming up on its 200,000 mile anniversary. She used to go to a small service station to have her car serviced, “But here (at ), they really know my car, all they work on is Honda’s, which makes them more efficient. I thought I was saving money before, but oil changes are less expensive at Hoffman and Rocky really knows my car. He always gives me good, honest advice,” says Terry Walters.
Terry recently replaced the radiator on her Pilot, a repair that cost around $900. “The new radiator should last another 10 years,” Subramani says.
Next time Terry’s car comes to Hoffman Honda Service, she’s planning to have a valve adjustment, get new power steering fluid and change the transmission fluid. “Transmission fluids need to be paid attention to. We check the color of the fluid. We recommend between 15,000 and 30,000 miles the transmission fluid should be replaced. Terry should come in at 210,000 miles,” suggests Subramani.
He knows a thing or two about maintaining high-mileage vehicles: Subramani’s own “daily driver” has over 233,000 miles on it! “I change the oil every 3,000 miles, no exceptions,” he boasts. “Anything can fail as a car gets older. With preventative maintenance, especially oil changes, we find the little things before they fail.”
One item that really must be replaced as a car ages is the timing belt. Subramani likens timing belts to “the heart of the car” and when they fail, it can really kill your car’s engine. “They need replacement every 7 years or 105,000 miles for Hondas; sparkplugs also need to be changed at 105,000 miles. To usually costs around $900 for a V6, but you can look for some specials we run on them, too.”
When the timing belt is changed it’s a good time to change the water pump as well, which is driven by the timing belt in most Hondas. “Also the tensioners in the timing belt need to be checked for wear and leaking and they need replacement about 20% of the time,” estimates Subramani.
Items like the car’s braking system, tires and steering system are obviously especially important to maintain for safety reasons. Tires can cost upwards of $800 but they’re usually good (depending on maintenance) for 50 – 70k miles if rotated on schedule (between 7500 and 10000 miles – basically with every other oil change). Air filters should be replaced every 15-30k miles. “Dirty filters restrict air intake and rob you of gas mileage,” Subramani explains. If you’ve done all that and you’re still getting poor gas mileage, “You may need a fuel injection service to clean the intake ports and the injectors, that makes the car run more efficiently. You can do it about every 45k miles and costs about $169; we’ve seen it result in about a 2% gain in mileage results. Drivers also get better fuel response along with the better fuel economy,” Subramani says.
Look for our next post on getting more life out of your older vehicle, where we’ll get into some inexpensive and easy upgrades and repairs that can really make a difference in your car’s performance – and in your enjoyment of driving an older model vehicle.
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