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Man, I knew that owning and maintaining a car is expensive. I don't know how I can justify the cost, other than that I'm too lazy to walk.
So I neglected maintaining my car (Toyota Avalon '97). It's been almost a year since I changed the engine oil, so I figured I can spend $100 for it to happen.
The mechanic tells me I need new front tires. I knew about this, because 2 years ago when I tried to have them rotated, the mechanic told me they're too worn, and it would be dangerous to rotate them to the back, and I should replace them within the year. Okay, $70 for each tire. This costs more than 2x what I expected.
He also tells me I need new transmission fluid. Oops. I didn't change it since I got the car, about 5 years ago. Okay, another $100.
He replaces a headlight lamp. $50. (Another reason I put my car in the shop; the left headlight went out sometime last week.)
Miscellaneous repairs, such as power window and power lock on the passenger door being unresponsive, and the side-view mirror that was vandalized a year ago; tack on another $100. It's fucking expensive to get a foreign-made car repaired in Korea.
Basically, I'm out $500 when I was expecting $100 in expenses.
On the other hand, my car is definitely in better condition now. The vibrations from the engine are much, much smoother and the wheel alignment is no longer bugging me.
But, shit, cars are expensive!
 
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It's true. In order to work out a car's true efficiency, you need to work out the actual running cost per M (or K depending). It's all well and good to get a fuel efficient car - but it may cost much more to maintain than a gas hog.
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Well, this is to be expected with 10+ year old cars.
You actually got off pretty light thanks to the car being a toyota.
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you spent $100 for an oil change?
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That's why I kept telling the mechanic "what, I need that? Okay, do it." But it sucks because my income is $700/month, and my rent is $300 of that. 
And, I didn't know it would all add up like that... I ended up giving him the $400 I got left after my rent, with a promise to pay the rest tomorrow (calling parents tonight  ). Blech. Good thing he was so nice about it.
Maybe it wasn't $100 for the oil change, but I'm sure it was over $50. He didn't give me an invoice, he just gave me a few running totals in between asking me if I wanted more stuff done, so I'm working off guesstimations and memory.
I don't feel ripped off, because this is Korea and people tend to get ripped off bad with foreign-made cars. As far as I can tell, he overcharged me by 10% at most if at all. You keep hearing these horror stories about $300 tires being charged to foreigners who bring their cars over. (Yeah, racism is rampant here. Good thing I look Korean.)
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#1 reason why I'm learning to work on my own cars 
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Wow thats got to suck, wouldnt there be cheaper modes of transport? at least until you have enough money to be able to afford a car comfortably?
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On November 04 2010 15:29 BottleAbuser wrote:That's why I kept telling the mechanic "what, I need that? Okay, do it." But it sucks because my income is $700/month, and my rent is $300 of that.
The problem is this, not the car. You shouldn't drive a car if that's your income.
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Also the "money hit" would be a lot more easier to cope with if you just changed your oil/transmission fluid at the expected intervals, instead of waiting to take the big "$500" hit all at once.
Not to mention that the problems are only going to increase exponentially if you don't even change the oil and such!
edit: learning to change your own oil (fairly simple) can save you a lot too.
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$50 to replace your one headlight? more than $50 to replace your oil? I dont know what its like it korea, but in canada thats just brutal
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you drive a car with that income? your fucked... tires cost a hefty amount of money... sell your car unless you need it for your work.
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Be glad you're not driving some stupid Mercedes or other European, 'luxury' class cars.
A power window button snapped off in my Benz. I had to spend $357 to get that replaced.
Now I'm having issues with the starter. I'm going to ballpark at least $400 for that. Not to mention the fuel economy kind of blows.
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Yeah, I know. If I spent $50 a month for a year, this wouldn't have happened. Lesson learned.
At least I wasn't stupid enough to keep driving it until something important broke. I suppose it could have happened and I just got lucky. =\
I'm actually driving my car much less these days, on the order of 3 5-mile round trips a week or so (down from 15-ish). The rest of the time I'm using my gf's bike. Saved me maybe $200 in gas for the car so far.
I usually spend like $10 a day for food, $100 a month for gas, so it works out fine until I have to pay for something else, like maintenance. Bleh.
Maybe I should learn how to change the oil. It could get messy though, because I would have to work in the small parking area for my place (no garage, it's just a flat open area big enough for 4 cars for the building). I don't even know where to toss the old oil. Wouldn't that just save me like $50 a year anyways?
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On November 04 2010 15:29 BottleAbuser wrote:That's why I kept telling the mechanic "what, I need that? Okay, do it." But it sucks because my income is $700/month, and my rent is $300 of that. And, I didn't know it would all add up like that... I ended up giving him the $400 I got left after my rent, with a promise to pay the rest tomorrow (calling parents tonight ). Blech. Good thing he was so nice about it. Maybe it wasn't $100 for the oil change, but I'm sure it was over $50. He didn't give me an invoice, he just gave me a few running totals in between asking me if I wanted more stuff done, so I'm working off guesstimations and memory. I don't feel ripped off, because this is Korea and people tend to get ripped off bad with foreign-made cars. As far as I can tell, he overcharged me by 10% at most if at all. You keep hearing these horror stories about $300 tires being charged to foreigners who bring their cars over. (Yeah, racism is rampant here. Good thing I look Korean.)
I agree that racism exists in Korea.. but another thing to keep in mind is that it doesn't matter who you are, if you bring a foreign car..it's is going to cost you a lot more than it will to work on a Hyundai. Doesn't matter if it's a BMW or a Toyota.
Then again, like somebody mentioned above.. you might want to rethink your transportation method if you have $400 of spending money a month especially with the killer gas prices we have here
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On November 04 2010 15:37 Graham wrote:Also the "money hit" would be a lot more easier to cope with if you just changed your oil/transmission fluid at the expected intervals, instead of waiting to take the big "$500" hit all at once. Not to mention that the problems are only going to increase exponentially if you don't even change the oil and such! edit: learning to change your own oil (fairly simple) can save you a lot too.
it's almost not worth it for the average person to learn to change their oil considering an oil change these days is like $18 and 5 qts of oil is already like $12 not to mention the cost of a filter, tools, and time. i guess depending on how much you drive you could save like $20+ a year or something ~_~
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Haha man, I've needed my front right wheel bearing done for a long time now. The nearby shop wants to charge me waaay too much for it, so I've been holding off getting it done. My buddy keeps telling me that my wheel is gonna fall off and I'm gonna die one day, but I don't want to pay that much money haha.
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I can't exactly sell it. My dad "gave" it to me, but it's still legally his, and he wants to keep it around. I do hope he'll help me maintain it. He already foots the insurance bill (another $300/year or something, might be as high as $500). This is why I use bike unless gf is using it. Good thing our schedules work out so nicely this semester.
Hope I didn't give the wrong impression with OP. This was more of a realization of the cost than bitching about it. I think I can handle the cost for now, I can still eat. Plus, it impresses girls.
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On November 04 2010 15:47 mahnini wrote:Show nested quote +On November 04 2010 15:37 Graham wrote:Also the "money hit" would be a lot more easier to cope with if you just changed your oil/transmission fluid at the expected intervals, instead of waiting to take the big "$500" hit all at once. Not to mention that the problems are only going to increase exponentially if you don't even change the oil and such! edit: learning to change your own oil (fairly simple) can save you a lot too. it's almost not worth it for the average person to learn to change their oil considering an oil change these days is like $18 and 5 qts of oil is already like $12 not to mention the cost of a filter, tools, and time. i guess depending on how much you drive you could save like $20+ a year or something ~_~
Haha yeah i used to change my oil but it takes up too much time so now i just drop it off and get it done cheaply. + i don't need to store then dispose of the oil same deal with things like transmission fluid etc, all the crap i learned from my dad which at the time was the way to be a cheapskate. Things add up like windshield whippers air filters etc all the expected maintenance. I can't want for some full electric cars that don't need oil changes so maintenance can be lax.
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at least you guys don't have to pay COE. in singapore cars cost like 5x what they do in the states.
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My dad had to use 3k euros once to fix everything in Croatia -> And that's cheap.
All he had to do was paint the car and some more things
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EPT
