Treat Your Car Like You"d Treat Your Pet Dog, But Don"t Waste Money
Buying a car is in some ways similar to bringing a pet dog into your family.
At the start, it's all nice and new and clean and beautiful, but anyone who gets either a new car or a dog needs to understand the long-term commitment.
Both dogs and cars will become older and less attractive or fun.
Both will start with a novelty value that will wear off gradually until they become an expensive burden.
The older each gets, the more they tend to cost.
Both pet dogs and cars are very exciting to get when new, and most responsible owners should and do budget for long-term expenses, such as food and grooming for the dog and fuel, tax and insurance for the car.
However, what few do remember to take into account is vet's bills and parts replacements.
Forgetting about dogs for now, many new car buyers just want to get their hands on the keys and the steering wheel.
They need to account for what the vehicle costs to buy and run in the short, medium and long term.
Fuel costs increase every year and insurance premiums rarely come down.
However, even the most reliable cars, such as those from Japanese manufacturers, need to have parts replaced.
In regular servicing and maintenance, filters, spark plugs and oil is replaced in order to keep the engine running efficiently.
Most owners and drivers appreciate that tyres wear out, and the effects are visible, so there is plenty of warning to budget for buying new ones, and not only is the replacement of little surprise, the effects of changing tyres are noticeable in the handling and ride of the vehicle.
What is unpleasant, is when you are surprised by having to pay for a part which you didn't expect, maybe don't even understand its use, and replacing it won't improve anything other than restoring the vehicle to perform as normal.
It's just like a large vet's bill for a sick dog.
Lots of cost, just to get things back to where they were, if you're lucky.
Paying for replacement parts for cars is never fun, and often more expensive than one expects.
On the one hand, there is advice to buy genuine car parts from a main dealer, in order to ensure the best quality and prolonged performance.
Some even pay top dollar to have main dealer technicians fit the parts.
On the other hand, there is a good argument for buying OEM parts and even getting a local mechanic to do the work.
What are OEM car parts? Basically, the manufacturers of cars can't and don't make every single part for each of their vehicles.
They mass purchase items such as bearings, ignition and fuel systems, and relays from partner companies such as Bosch or Nippon Denso and fit them as standard.
The same parts made in the same factories are also made for sale as replacement parts, but packaged and retailed in two different ways.
One is in genuine parts boxes through the main dealer network at high prices, and the other is in plain boxes through independent sales networks at lower prices.
The parts are the same, however.
Therefore, in many instances, it makes sense to buy OEM parts because although there is a difference in the price, the quality of the product is exactly the same once it is taken out of its box.
At the start, it's all nice and new and clean and beautiful, but anyone who gets either a new car or a dog needs to understand the long-term commitment.
Both dogs and cars will become older and less attractive or fun.
Both will start with a novelty value that will wear off gradually until they become an expensive burden.
The older each gets, the more they tend to cost.
Both pet dogs and cars are very exciting to get when new, and most responsible owners should and do budget for long-term expenses, such as food and grooming for the dog and fuel, tax and insurance for the car.
However, what few do remember to take into account is vet's bills and parts replacements.
Forgetting about dogs for now, many new car buyers just want to get their hands on the keys and the steering wheel.
They need to account for what the vehicle costs to buy and run in the short, medium and long term.
Fuel costs increase every year and insurance premiums rarely come down.
However, even the most reliable cars, such as those from Japanese manufacturers, need to have parts replaced.
In regular servicing and maintenance, filters, spark plugs and oil is replaced in order to keep the engine running efficiently.
Most owners and drivers appreciate that tyres wear out, and the effects are visible, so there is plenty of warning to budget for buying new ones, and not only is the replacement of little surprise, the effects of changing tyres are noticeable in the handling and ride of the vehicle.
What is unpleasant, is when you are surprised by having to pay for a part which you didn't expect, maybe don't even understand its use, and replacing it won't improve anything other than restoring the vehicle to perform as normal.
It's just like a large vet's bill for a sick dog.
Lots of cost, just to get things back to where they were, if you're lucky.
Paying for replacement parts for cars is never fun, and often more expensive than one expects.
On the one hand, there is advice to buy genuine car parts from a main dealer, in order to ensure the best quality and prolonged performance.
Some even pay top dollar to have main dealer technicians fit the parts.
On the other hand, there is a good argument for buying OEM parts and even getting a local mechanic to do the work.
What are OEM car parts? Basically, the manufacturers of cars can't and don't make every single part for each of their vehicles.
They mass purchase items such as bearings, ignition and fuel systems, and relays from partner companies such as Bosch or Nippon Denso and fit them as standard.
The same parts made in the same factories are also made for sale as replacement parts, but packaged and retailed in two different ways.
One is in genuine parts boxes through the main dealer network at high prices, and the other is in plain boxes through independent sales networks at lower prices.
The parts are the same, however.
Therefore, in many instances, it makes sense to buy OEM parts because although there is a difference in the price, the quality of the product is exactly the same once it is taken out of its box.