I am interested in ideas to save money involving my vehicle.
I am not a lead foot, and I maintain my vehicle.
Perform all recommended/required service and keep the receipts safe, in a folder. If you can do the service yourself, do it. The wife had the service department change the air and cabin filters and it costs about $25 labor. And that just about took me longer to type this statement than to do it myself…
Once you find a mechanic or service department that you trust, even if it’s not the cheapest, use them. They are less likely to cause you to spend needless money chasing ghosts or having you pay for them to learn how your car operates… That’s my two cents…
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Don’t drive it.
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Don’t drive a 4WD SUV or pickup truck around, empty most of the time.
Drive something that more realistically fits your real driving needs. For most people, that’s a 4 door car, 4 cylinder car.
A lot of people pay for a lot more vehicle than they really need…just in case stuff happens…or to impress people they neither know or care.
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Buy used, without financing, if possible. You usually can purchase a car just off warranty (4 years or so) for 40 to 60% of the cost new but with 70% or more of the miles left in the car. Assume 150K mile life (low) and you bought the car with 42K miles. You have a 108K miles left.
Maintain the car like you are OCD (good tips above!). Own the car until it is no longer meets your needs… either size, reliability, or suitable for where you live.
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Don’t let your tires air pressures get down to 20-22 psi, pay attention to the light(s) on the dashboard (or wherever)… Maintaining your vehicle is much more then just changing the oil…
Alignment will cause poor fuel mileage if out of spec, keep your tires (aired up) rotated for proper wear… Cheap gas is not always cheap in the long run… Use the proper Octane that your vehicle calls for, even using a higher octane then it requires can/will change the ignition timing and affect the fuel mileage… but if it calls for 91 octane and all you can get is 87-89-93 then go up not down… but don’t run 93 if it only calls for 87, waste of money… another words, run what your engine calls for…
And the list goes on and on as already mentioned in above post…
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What do you drive?
Simple answer= sell it and buy a clean low mile Toyota.
Work from home.
What are your biggest vehicle-related expenses? Consumables like gasoline & oil? Repairs?
Maintenance? Of the last two, % parts vs labor? For best results here, suggest to post the vehicle’s make/model/year/engine/& transmission info.
If you’re not already using it now, use synthetic oil. and when doing repairs do not cheap out on buying good quality parts. most of the time OEM is a better choice.
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Depends on how cheap you want to get and chances you want to take. Neighbors dad used to get drain oil from a shop for free to use in an oil change!
From his previous thread:
“I have a 2009 Mazda CX-7”
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For that sort of newer vehicle, presumably well-designed and good quality parts, about the only way to save money is to drive gently, avoiding rapid accelerations and stops and sharp cornering when possible, and just keep the routine maintenance up to date. The only other way to save a substantial amount is for the owner to do some of the labor themselves, but that presupposes the owner is tooled up and has a legal place to work on their car. It’s tough to save, but easy to spend way more than needed … by using cheapo non-oem replacement parts , extending the fluid changes, ignoring symptoms, etc.
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Other cost-insurance. Shop around, make the most of all available discounts, like low mileage.
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Gas will be your biggest expense so…
Drive smoothly. Brake sparingly, look far ahead when you drive. Anticipate stops and let off the gas early. If you have an instantaneous mileage setting, practice driving to get and keep it as high as you can. It can teach you what makes the mpgs higher.
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Yes, get the big picture. My wife would only look 30-50 feet ahead (perhaps an exaggeration), constantly on the gas or on the brakes. If I see a red light a block ahead, foot off the gas, coast until it turns green or I have to stop.
Keep your eyes moving, ahead and to the mirrors.
To the OP, not to be mean, just to be honest. We know you had neglected checking your tire pressures. Have you neglected other service, brake fluid change, air filters, spark plugs? Don’t be penny wise and Pound foolish.
If and when you decide to replace your Mazda, do you really need a vehicle that large?
You might consider a smaller vehicle and/or hybrid.
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Stay away from all kinds of fords, fiats, etc.
+1
While I hope that we are both wrong, I think it is very possible that someone who ignored his tire pressure for an extended period of time may have also failed to follow the mfr’s maintenance schedule to a “T”.
Maintenance involves a lot more than merely changing the oil, but some people even manage to screw that up by changing oil solely on the basis of odometer mileage, and ignoring the proviso about elapsed time intervals for oil changes. (i.e. 5,000 miles, or six months, whichever comes first)
Since I use full synthetic oil, I change my oil about every 8K miles.
How many months does it take you to accumulate 8k miles?
I travel 8K in about 6 months.