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Are you being driven crazy by the high cost of car repairs? Here are several ways to spend less on auto repairs.

Invest in preventative maintenance

In many cases, spotting and fixing problems early can minimise the costs. Certain worn parts may be having a knock-on effect on other parts. For instance, ignoring worn brake pads could be causing damage to your tyres and potentially even damaging the suspension. Taking your vehicle in for a check-up could be worthwhile if you haven’t had serviced for a while – you can book an MOT test or servicing online. Make sure that you’re also doing basic maintenance yourself such as keeping fluids topped up and ensuring that there is enough air in your tyres.

Do your own repairs

Another way to save money could be to try repairs yourself. Whilst certain repairs may require a professional technician, there could be other smaller repair jobs that you can do yourself. There are repair manuals that you can buy that can teach you have to fix your model of car. Alternatively, you may be able to find YouTube tutorials. Make sure you know your limits – it’s generally a good idea to avoid electrics and steer clear of anything that needs specialist tools.

Source your own parts

If you’d prefer to let a mechanic take over, you may still be able to save money by offering to source parts yourself. Repair centres often aim to make a profit on any parts they have to buy in – by buying these parts yourself, you won’t pay this added fee. There are plenty of sites dedicated to affordable car parts. Be careful of buying part-worn parts – whilst they may be cheap, they’re likely to need replacing again in the near future.

Shop around

Shopping around may seem like an obvious way to save money, and yet many people don’t do it. Rather than accepting the first quote you get, try collecting quotes from multiple repair centres in your area. This might allow you to negotiate a price match. If you know the cause of the problem, it’s usually easy to get a quote over the phone or online. If you don’t know the cause of the problem, most repair centres will usually ask that you take the vehicle in before offering any prices.

Know when to cut your losses

If you’re forever having to get your car repaired, it could be time to accept that your vehicle is just going to keep draining your money and you may be better off scrapping it and getting a new car. You can make money from scrapping a vehicle – some companies will pay you to use your vehicle for parts. This could be a small contribution towards getting a new car.