Save money on car repairs - My 1991 Dodge Stealth
Car Repairs Can Be Costly with the hourly cost of labor on your bill
One way to cut costs on car repairs is to do the work yourself, which cuts out the cost of labor. As I was driving to work a few weeks ago, my dodge stealth started making a terrible noise under the front drivers side tire.
It sounded like metal was rubbing on metal. I live across the street from a garage so when they heard me pull in the manager came out and told me it was my wheel bearing. I called Auto Zone who informed me the cost of a new one was around 60$. Not bad I thought but the cost of labor would cost me triple the amount of money in the end. On my part time wages I could not afford to have a garage put it in. A garage around here charges 50$ an hour, and it was not an easy job.
My husband decided he was going to fix it himself. He has no automotive repair experience at all. But if all else failed we could just take it across the street.
My husband got the old part out, which took him about an hour and a half. The problem was the bearing had to be pressed off the hub and the new bearing pressed on to it. The garage across the street did not have a press, nor did anyone in the area except, the high school machine shop class.
My husband then took the parts to the school and they pressed them for free, saving us about 80$. It also gives the kids experience. This was great i thought. Apparently, we found out the class can do just about any work on your vehicle for free providing you purchase the parts.
My husband was able to put the car back together nicely with no mistakes. LOL And i think we saved about $200. I would recommend anyone who is living on a tight budget and can't afford it when things go wrong to try to fix it yourself, or take it to the closest school. Lots of kids love to learn how to fix things and there is always a experienced teacher there making sure things are done the rite way.
