Save and Conquer

My wife just told me that her favorite posts in Save and Conquer are under the Frugal Living category. So here is another frugal tip: buy a shop manual whenever you buy a new or used vehicle.

I am either too old or too lazy to do much of the work on my vehicles anymore. (Sometimes it is because I don’t have the special tools required for a particular repair task. That’s my story, anyway.) But I am always glad I have the repair manual whenever something goes wrong.

The manual usually has a good troubleshooting section. With today’s new computerized systems, the manual often has tables describing the trouble codes and how to go about repairing them.

Even if I don’t want to do the repair myself, I am always empowered by the knowledge of what’s wrong when I take the vehicle to the shop. It is much easier to tell if you are being bamboozled. Even if you overlooked or misdiagnosed a problem, you can go back to the manual after the shop has called, and verify that what they say is feasible, as well as get some idea of the effort to do the repair.

You don’t have to be “good” with cars to read and understand a repair manual. They are typically written for someone with a high school education. In fact, I was a junior in high school when I took my first auto shop class.

The best manuals are the ones from the vehicle manufacturers. They are also almost always the most expensive. If you are not planning on doing full engine rebuilds, aftermarket manuals are perfectly fine as well as much cheaper. You can usually find the manuals, even for used cars, on the internet at sites like Clymer and Haynes.

It also doesn’t hurt to peruse the maintenance schedule page of your manual. The preventative maintenance found here will save you money in the long haul. And the term “long haul” carries its own frugal message. It is cheapest to drive your vehicle until it can’t go anymore. This is also known as driving it into the ground. My previous truck had 265,000 miles on it and was 15 years old when I had to replace it. It would no longer pass smog control without an engine overhaul. Kelly Blue Book said the tires were worth more than the rest of the vehicle. My current truck is 7 years old and is still fairly new with only 75,000 miles. It will probably retire when I do.

Stumble it!