Never ever do cars require repair at a convenient time. At least mine doesn’t – it always seems to have issues when it’s cold and dreadful outside. In my younger years I would brave the cold and fix problems myself. Now that I’m older I usually have someone else do the repairs for me. This past weekend was one of those occasions. We had an inch of ice on the ground and a few inches of snow on top of the ice. Not ideal conditions for working on the car in the driveway.
The Problem – my car’s radiator had a few small holes in it. While not something that needed immediate attention, it is something that should be fixed before it completely fails. So right around the time I started this blog – I bought a replacement radiator. It costs me about $150 less than the garage wanted to charge me for it. You might be wondering how I saved so much. Well – like most anything else – buying car parts online is easy and typically cheaper. I bought my radiator from DriveWire.com because I’ve dealt with them before and have always been pleased. They always have free shipping on orders over $50.
The only other costs that I had to pay were for labor, fluid and clamps. The grand total for that was $80. The entire repair costs were $152. That, I think, is a pretty good deal. In comparison, a local garage quoted me a price of $400. I guess it pays to spend some time looking for better deals.
Have you saved money on car repairs by shopping for parts online?
