There’s no feeling quite as bad as finding out that what seemed like a minor car issue has actually made your vehicle unusable and will cost a boatload of money to fix. This issue will negatively affect your life until you get it fixed but doing such a thing isn’t always in the budget. Fortunately, there are alternative options if you can’t afford expensive car repairs.
Check Your Warranty
First thing’s first, you need to check your warranty to find out if it’s still active. If it is, you’ll need to see if it covers the costs of the broken part. Unfortunately, most warranties don’t protect against all damages your car could encounter. While this is a hard truth to find out yourself, it’s better to know ahead of time than to pay for repairs that the warranty could have covered.
Get a Second Opinion
After you’ve received the facts about your vehicle’s damages, it’s always smart to ask for a second opinion from another repair shop. There’s always a chance that the original company got it wrong, or even worse, they were trying to upcharge you. The people you take your car to can confirm or deny the things you were told and may give you a better deal.
Buy Secondhand Parts
An alternate option if you can’t afford expensive car repairs that many people tend to overlook is buying parts secondhand. You’d be surprised by how many car parts are safe to buy used. You can ask around at junkyards or look through online stores, such as eBay, to see what kind of deals are available to you. Just be sure to find out how much usage the parts received and whether there are any significant problems that you should be aware of.
Do the Repairs Yourself
On top of buying used parts, you can also save yourself a lot of money by installing the new part yourself. This might sound farfetched for those of you who don’t know anything about cars, but thanks to the power of the internet, doing your own car work is more accessible than ever. There are many videos online that take viewers through a step-by-step process on how to successfully replace a broken-down car part. You can save hundreds to thousands of dollars if you can pull this off.
Sell Your Vehicle
In a worst-case scenario, your final option would be to sell your vehicle as-is. You might not get as much as you’d like for it, but at least you can put that cash toward a better car that won’t break down. If that’s still not in the budget, you can use the money you made from the sale to pay for services like ridesharing and home delivery until you can find a more permanent solution. Either way, it’s never a great idea to hold onto a car that you can’t fix. It’s better to at least get some money for it.
