Finally realized my 'bargain' car repairs were costing me double

I used to be the guy who would fix every little thing on my 2004 Honda Civic myself to save money, no matter how bad it looked. For three years I was buying junkyard parts and using zip ties to hold up the bumper cover. Then last month I spent $40 on a used alternator from a salvage yard in Birmingham, installed it in my driveway, and it died after 12 miles. Had to pay a tow truck $85 to drag me home and then $120 for a proper rebuilt one from the auto parts store. That's when it hit me: I was spending more time and money on band-aid fixes than I would have just buying quality parts once. The dented bumper and busted radio I kept nursing along actually cost me more in the long run than just biting the bullet on a decent repair. Has anyone else done the math on their 'cheap' fixes and realized they were throwing cash away?

2 comments

2 Comments

piperb9314d ago

Swallow that sunk cost feeling and admit that your Civic is basically held together by spite and zip ties (which, honestly, is a whole mood). I did the same thing with my old truck's transmission, swapping in a junkyard unit that grenaded a week later and cost me triple in towing and labor. At some point you gotta just accept that "cheap" is usually just "expensive" wearing a fake mustache.

bennett.noah14d ago

Finally swapped the motor mounts on my own Civic and it ran smooth for another two years.