Car maintenance 🚘

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
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benrickert
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:34 am
Location: Oslo

Car maintenance 🚘

Post by benrickert »

Has there been any good threads on car maintenance?

I have a 2010 Volkswagen Passat with 60,000 km on it. Bought 18 months ago. I’m not driving much and hence I think the car could last for many years if I take care of it.

The service program has been followed with annual checkups at repair shops, but don’t think I get good value for what I pay. They don’t really even give me a run through of what shape the different parts of the car are in as long as they meet their test.

Therefore looking to see if I can both 1) lower the expense and 2) get better confidence the car is well maintained by doing the checkups/repairs/etc myself.

Will this be doable with no background knowledge?
What are things I should have experts looking at?
What can I easily do myself?
Where do I start?

Saltation
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Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:20 am

Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by Saltation »

Many of the basic scheduled maintenance items can be handled yourself provided you have the tools necessary to do the job.

-Oil changes can be perfomed if you have a place where you can slightly jack the vehicle and drain the oil. Typically the only tool necessary is a torque wrench (to snug the drain plug according to spec).
-Air filters are normally the removal of a few screw or clips.
-Cabin filters are normally found under the glove compartment and require no tools.
-Wiper blades are easily replaceable.
-Batteries can be replaced with basic hand tools.

After this level of services there are too many variables that require a basic working knowledge of mechanics or more equipment. Alternators, brakes, hub/bearings, tire replacement etc. are not difficult to do but do require basic safety checks to provide assurance of the job being performed correctly. Working in the industry I have little doubt that nearly anyone can learn the skills.

With no background knowledge you should be comfortable doing the above mentioned items after a basic tutorial on youtube.

Stahlmann
Posts: 1121
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:05 pm

Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by Stahlmann »

etzold so wird's gemacht "car model" in your language

Or maybe "car model" self maintance by some Swedish/Norwegian technical publishing group

Finding specific forum for your car (yes, fb killed everything with their shitty search engine and post format)

Youtube

And praying a lot :lol:

Btw, car in Scandinavia with yours crazy taxes on consumption? Nice affluence level, keep going.

benrickert
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:34 am
Location: Oslo

Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by benrickert »

@saltation thank you. Will look into how each of those could be done. Getting to know and trust a car mechanic is also likely a good idea. #socialskills

@stahlmann thank you. Should have thought of this myself. Many self help guides and videos out there.
I tried 2 summers and 1 winter without a car. It worked well during the summers but thought it was too restrictive during winter considering my hobby of skiing and where I live. The skiing hobby is really the only thing that keeps me from not having a car so you could argue it’s quite expensive if the goal is ERE. Not disliking work enough I guess.

I’ve looked into renting out the car during summers but the rent doesn’t look attractive considering the pay vs expenses and hassle. Ideas?

AxelHeyst
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by AxelHeyst »

benrickert wrote:
Sun May 01, 2022 2:25 am
Ideas?
How many days per winter do you typically ski?
If skiing really is the reason you keep the car, you can divide total cost of car ownership (depreciation, maintenance, fuel, fees, parking/garage space, etc on an annual basis) by number of days you ski, giving you a € per ski day figure (if you haven't already done this calc, of course). Have you compared this number against renting?

One idea is to investigate if there are other people in your area who like to ski with whom you could arrange a ski carpool club with. Or - intentionally develop friendships with enough other skiers so that it's easy enough to get the number of ski days in per winter that you're happy with, going on rides with friends and chipping in for fuel cost.

Are there buses that go to the ski place? How far are you from the ski place - perhaps you could move closer? Or do a ski rental for a few months during prime ski season, rent out your regular apt to someone else while you're in the mountains, thus making your shelter costs cost neutral?

benrickert
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 11:34 am
Location: Oslo

Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by benrickert »

@AxelHeyst Thank you for spotting the elephant. You got me thinking. LTM car cost was 42,000 nok, including depreciation and opportunity cost (sales price/0.03). At 3% withdrawal rate that’s nok1,4m NW needed just for having a car!!! A car I only need for skiing!!! Would definitely call this a ‘lock-in’ 🙉

I estimate I ski 5 months, or 22 weeks a year, and 5 times a week, that’s 110 ski days per year. Or 379 nok/trip.

Most trips go to nearby trailheads; 15-20 minute drive each way. These would take more than twice as long with bus and would hence on weekdays take quite a lot of time out of my day. (This was what I did the winter without a car, on top of car pooling) Cost for bus card would be 900/month or 4,000 for the five months a year. How much should I charge myself for waiting for the bus and having to adjust to the bus schedule? Probably less when time frees up from work 🤔

Weekend trips are fewer in between but are longer distance and more expensive, also by car, but especially with public transport (same price as car and takes longer). I do maybe 1 weekend/month or 5/year which perhaps cost 2,000 nok. 2000*5 =10,000. This leaves 32,000 for 95 remaining days, which is nok333/short trip. Still expensive compared to bus, but close to what I could rent one for. This still doesn't factor in some longer car trips during summertime which would lower the cost per ski trip.

The car pooling option is definitely there for the weekend trips. Also for weekday trips but not every time. If getting rid of the car I would probably reduce the number of ski days somewhat for convenience. The winter without a car I skied less. But may be worth it to reach FI earlier. Parts of the skiing is also an escape into meditation and solitude, which is hard to put a value on, but may not be worth it if I need several more years for saving. Meditation and solitude is easier found outside an office building.

Hmmm, maybe I should put it up for sale…

Since I don’t use the car much for seven months a year, insurance, depreciation and opportunity cost becomes a large unecessary part of the cost. I’ve heard some are able to buy a car and sell it at a higher price down the road. Not something I have the brains to do now, but a niche skill I could develop with some help? Buy a car in November, sell it at a higher price in April, repeat every year? Probably doesn’t come without risks though.

SouthernAlchemy
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by SouthernAlchemy »

I think being able to turn a good profit on a car relies on either a) buying a car with some problem that current owner is too cheap/lazy/ignorant to fix themselves and then being able to fix it yourself or b) having a really good understanding of the car market in your area and being a tough negotiator. Either way requires a well develop skill set. Combining both would be an even better way to do it. OTOH it is reasonable to assume depreciation over 5 months will not be that great, especially with current inflation, and that a strategy of buying and then selling at the end of the season could lower the per trip cost a good amount. Of course your time in this scenario would be spent buying and selling and doing associated paperwork instead of waiting at the bus stop!

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unemployable
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by unemployable »

Some of my experience from my own maintenance and repair jobs starts here: viewtopic.php?p=185071#p185071

As you work on your own cars, you learn about them. You can better diagnose what's going wrong, and if needed, talk more knowledgably if you have to take it to a shop. I hit a deer a few days ago and had to visit a couple repair shops on short notice. Being able to identify what need fixing immediately, what could wait, what triage I could perform myself with stuff from Walmart and what I could safely leave be on a 500-mile drive through the desert allowed me to handle the situation with a lot less stress than if I didn't have this knowledge.

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Jean
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by Jean »

it looks like you really like skiing, and that the only practical way to remove the car is to move somewhere you wouldn't need the car to ski. This would probably be an option once you quit working, and for this reason, i'de only account the cost of owning the car during the accumulatiom period.

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unemployable
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by unemployable »

Jean wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 5:07 pm
i'de only account the cost of owning the car during the accumulatiom period.
And then when you're done accumulating a car can be obtained for maybe 1-2% of your net worth. I paid $7800 for my current car two years ago. In the current environment I routinely have daily swings in my net worth of double or triple that.

shaz
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Re: Car maintenance 🚘

Post by shaz »

You don't actually need to make a profit buying then selling a car, you just need to lose less money than you would spend owning the car year round.

Can you substitute a different activity with many of the same rewards for some of your ski days? For instance, when I got tired of paying for tickets, waiting in lift lines, and driving to the ski area, I switched from downhill skiing to Nordic skiing and ice skating and then ice hockey. Now that I no longer live near a hockey rink it is back to Nordic skiing.

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