COST – Humble Mechanic

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you all had a fantastic weekend. Before we get into talking about the cost of owning a car, I want to fill you in on a few things.

As you all know by now, my wife and I were planning on moving. Prepping our house to put up for sale has consumed all of our time for about a month. That is the reason that posts have not been consistent, and I have not been on Facebook,or Twitter much. After a total of 40 hours on the market, we were under contract. We really didn’t see that coming. Now we are in the process of finding a new home.

What does that mean for you guys? It means that we will have more things to talk about. One of the big things we are looking for is a workshop. Or a place to build a work shop. So I can show you all how to set up a garage. Think about things like finishing the floor, building storage and organization. It will be awesome.

The bad thing is, the Luv A Dub is on hold for a little while. The move it self will be eating up plenty of time. This move will also mean shifting our budgeting a little. So the money set aside for the Cabby will be going towards the move. Don’t worry it is just a setback. We will be back working on her in no time.

Let’s talk about the cost of owning a car. I stumbled on to this infographic yesterday. They break down some of the costs of owning a car. The more important thing they talk about is the rising cost of owning a car.

Source:The Rising Cost of Car Ownership

I don’t think that I would have a hard time convincing anyone that owning a car is expensive. I do think that some things are a little misleading. Take an oil change for example. I remember when I first started driving, an oil change was $19.95. Today we charge about $65 for an oil change. On the surface that seems like like the cost of service tripled. What we don’t think about is we are not changing our oil every 3,000 miles. We are changing the oil every 5,000-10,000 miles.

On the other side, let’s talk about fuel. MPG is up on most all cars. The issue is MPG is not up as much as the rise in fuel price. Sure you get 30% better fuel mileage, but you are paying 300% more for fuel.(those are not exact numbers, just examples)

It’s Friday! I hope you all had a great week! Today I wanted to give everyone some pointers for selling a car.

For most of us the day will come when we want a new car. When that day comes we have a few choices for dealing with the old car.

Trade it in to the place we buy our new car
Sell it to a private party
Pass it down to a friend or family member
Donate to a charity for a tax right off
Give it to Charles for the Humble Mechanic site 😉

I really want to talk about the selling it to a private party. When you trade your car in at a dealer, they are not as concerned about how clean it is. They can look beyond the dirt and evaluate the car. With in reason that is. So let’s get into some ways to get the most money when selling your car.

Up To Date On Common Maintenance
Having the basic maintenance up to date is an easy way to stand out. Things like

Oil and filter changed
Air filter
New wiper blades
Tire pressure set properly
Battery tested (replaced if needed)
All the fluids topped off

Other than the battery, the rest is REALLY cheap. I would also recommend keeping all the receipts for any maintenance and repairs you do. Now, that does not mean I will spend $3,000 getting maintenance done if it would not translate to selling the car for $3,000 more. That is silly!

Push Some Buttons
If you are like me, you might use all the features of your car. I can’t tell you the last time that I locked the doors from the button on the rear door. Or plugged something into the 12v outlet in the back. Take a few minutes to push every switch and button in your car. I am not suggesting that you fix everything, but telling people something is wrong is much easier than stumbling for an answer when they find a problem. Good luck convincing them “you didn’t know”.

Enlist A Friend
You are in your car all the time. Because of that, your car might have issues that you don’t see anymore. It could be a small scratch that has been there for years, or that little chip in the windshield. Grab a friend and have them look at your car as if they were going to buy it.

Make It Not Belong To You
Just like when you are selling your house, you don’t want the buyer feeling like it is your car. You want them to think it is theirs! So take all your stuff out, and get ride of that thingy hanging from your rear view mirror.

Get It Clean
This should be a no brainer! Get your car as clean as it will get. If you are not a fan of washing cars, take it somewhere and get it cleaned. Spending $100 getting your car cleaned by the pros will be worth it. I have shopped for a lot of cars in my day. There is not much worse than looking at a car and it being completely nasty. Even if you are selling a cheap car, run it through the wash!

Other Great Tips
Here are a few other things that you can do to help you sell your car faster and for more money

Make sure all your lights work both inside and out
Make sure you have a spare tires and the car’s tool kit
Be open to having your car inspected by a mechanic
Use pricing guides like Kelly Blue Book and Edmond’s to help set a price

I hope that you guys can use things if you ever have to sell a car. Do you guy have any other tips that we can add? I want to put together a checklist type document for folks to download and use! What do ya got.

Do you enjoy this site? Want to make sure you never miss a post? Consider joining up on the email list. You will be notified of posts before anyone else. Also, there are things coming down the road that are awesome. The folks on the email list will be getting first dibs 😉 Don’t worry about spam or anything, you will only be getting updates from me!

Enjoy the weekend everyone, try and stay cool!

Tag Archive for: COST

The Rising Cost Of Owning A Car

Get The Most Money When Selling Your Car, Advice From An Auto Mechanic