If Any car owner would agree that nothing hurts more than spending big money on fixing the vehicle. We know that cars are just machines and things will inevitably go wrong with them. But still, we find it extremely difficult handing over the cash to the mechanic. The thing is, you can minimize the amount of cash you have to hand over if you do the leg work and find cheap fixes for your mechanical problems. 

Of course, if you can afford it, by all means lavish thousands of bucks on your vehicle and get it the best service possible. But unlike you I don’t have a big bank account or a winner coupon code, so I like to get away with cheaper solutions when possible. That does not mean doing a half-arsed job of fixing the car. Far form it. The whole point is to take care of the issue without braking the bank. That is what the art of the cheap fix is all about.

The first thing you need to know about cheap fixes is how to get parts, as they usually make up the biggest part of your expenditure. Your car company tells you that you should always use genuine parts, and like we said, if you can afford it, do it. But you have to realize part of that insistence is because the company wants to sell their parts and so it is natural for them to exaggerate a bit when it comes to the efficacy of said parts. You will find that more often than not patent parts built under license by a third-party manufacturer do just as fine a job while costing half or even a third of the original. The cool thing is, in most case if you use a patent part and it breaks two or three more times, you still won’t have paid as much as what the original part would have cost. So they’re definitely a nice cheap fix.

You can also go for second-hand parts, the so-called stock parts. These are original parts taken off from scrapped or written-off vehicles, and they are usually supplied by official vendors who check them for proper functionality and may even guarantee them. Because they are original parts they fit like a dream and won’t need much fiddling, unlike some of the patent parts. But they are second-hand, and a bit of a gamble really. As far the cost is concerned though, a stock OEM part can save you a lot of money, especially if you are need of a whole host of them. They are also useful when it comes to replacing parts that are rare and not supplied by the manufacturer anymore.

Another way you can save a lot of funds when fixing your car is research. What we mean by that is first, get a second and a third opinion, because not all mechanics are skilled or honest, and second, delve into the matter yourself and try to at least understand the problem. These days with a simple search online you can find the solution to many of the problem you face in daily life. You will be surprised how often a look at YouTube or some internet forum will help you diagnose and possibly fix your car on your own. Just because an issue seems serious, it is not necessarily difficult to address. Say, you find that your car does not start in the morning. Rather than panicking and having it towed to a shop asap, you should go online and look up the symptoms. Maybe it’s just a blown fuse, or a bad sensor, or a dead battery – issues than can be solved easily without the intervention of a professional.

Now, you should do all of these at your own risk. If you feel like you are not mechanically competent, you should seek the services of a professional and pay the price. But if you take the time to learn a few basic skills, you could save yourself a fortune in the long run.