Economic Indicator

One of my personal economic indicators is my car repair situation. When things are going really well I like to have the garage do most of the work. During hard times I work on my own cars. In the last couple of years I’ve really felt the need to save money where I can. During this new period of high inflation it’s even more critical than ever. 

I don’t have a garage so I have to work exposed to the elements. Worse than a little rain is the bugs. There’s nothing like having a deer flies land on you while your greasy hands are trying to install something. It’s even worse in the winter cold. Imagine changing a water pump on the side of the road in -30 temperatures. It’s not a fond memory. In the past year I’ve gone back to dealing with the discomforts in the interests of economy. 

My car recently passed state inspection. The garage noted that while the front bake pads were legal they were getting thin. He helpfully sent me off with an estimate for replacing the pads and rotors. Like that’s going to happen. In a few weeks I’ll be changing the pads. Currently the rotors are fine and since I’m changing the pads early they’ll stay fine. 

More tools have been added to my collection and they’ve paid for themselves on the first jobs. The Blazer had the dreaded check engine light come on. Before the availability of cheap code readers that was always a trip to the garage. Yesterday I hooked it up and discovered it was a minor leak in the pollution system. All the possible repairs are cheap. Just making sure the gas cap was on on securely might have fixed the problem. 

Keeping the vehicles in good repair is essential right now. Replacing them is not in the budget. Besides, you can’t bug out in a vehicle that’s sitting up on blocks. 

-Sixbears