How much can you save by doing car maintenance yourself?
Discussion
After reading so many posts about people moaning about main dealer diagnostic and repair costs, I started to wonder why more people don't do the work themselves?
How much have you saved by doing it yourself?
I saved £380 by replacing a stuck front caliper, front disks and pads on my E46, the local BMW specialist wanted £500, I did it for £120 in parts (all OEM quality Pagid) from Eurocarparts and a couple of hours of my own labour.
How much have you saved by doing it yourself?
I saved £380 by replacing a stuck front caliper, front disks and pads on my E46, the local BMW specialist wanted £500, I did it for £120 in parts (all OEM quality Pagid) from Eurocarparts and a couple of hours of my own labour.
I do about half of my own work, and that will hopefully rise to 90% when I've finished rebuilding and equipping the garage. I guess over the years I've been driving, I've saved maybe ten grand vs using main dealers, and five grand vs using independent garages. If I was to consider my time to be worth what I get paid at my day job, that would collapse, though.
A lot of people are scared or don't have the requisite tools/space to have a go. Also, working on the car you need for work the next day can be an issue.
I'm all in favour of DIY and taught myself a lot by just cracking on and trying stuff out. Over the years, I've picked up tips from mechanics etc so I'm now capable of doing a lot which means I save myself a small fortune, year on year - especially with the availability of software to interrogate the OBD systems.
I'm all in favour of DIY and taught myself a lot by just cracking on and trying stuff out. Over the years, I've picked up tips from mechanics etc so I'm now capable of doing a lot which means I save myself a small fortune, year on year - especially with the availability of software to interrogate the OBD systems.
I try to do as much as possible, unless it's routine servicing stuff. Then I'll use a reputable independent and get a stamp in the book.
The Z4 snapped a rear spring. BMW wanted £400 to change both, bearing in mind that the OEM springs were available for £50ea on Eurocarparts I decided to do it myself and save £300! You have to take care doing this job, but it took less than an hour to do both springs... which equates to a BMW labour rate of £300/hr. b
ds.
I also totally upgraded the sound system on my 3 series... it was dire. Rather than pay a professional £££'s, I did the job myself. It's a bit daunting ripping the entire interior out, but it was worth it.
A good trick to save money is to use a reputable independent garage for services, but supply the parts yourself. You can buy genuine parts online for rock bottom prices, this avoids the obvious mark-up that the garage would otherwise apply if they were to supply the parts.
Saying that, manufacturers make is so hard these days to work on your own car! I'm pretty competent, but it took me an hour to replace both sidelights the the 3 series! Wheel off, arch lining out, impossible to access caps/screws/clips, etc.
I've recently learnt that I can't just replace the car battery. The battery needs to be registered and the car coded to accept the new battery!
Crazy. I'm tempted to get rid and buy my recent itch - an e30 325i Sport.
The Z4 snapped a rear spring. BMW wanted £400 to change both, bearing in mind that the OEM springs were available for £50ea on Eurocarparts I decided to do it myself and save £300! You have to take care doing this job, but it took less than an hour to do both springs... which equates to a BMW labour rate of £300/hr. b
ds.I also totally upgraded the sound system on my 3 series... it was dire. Rather than pay a professional £££'s, I did the job myself. It's a bit daunting ripping the entire interior out, but it was worth it.
A good trick to save money is to use a reputable independent garage for services, but supply the parts yourself. You can buy genuine parts online for rock bottom prices, this avoids the obvious mark-up that the garage would otherwise apply if they were to supply the parts.
Saying that, manufacturers make is so hard these days to work on your own car! I'm pretty competent, but it took me an hour to replace both sidelights the the 3 series! Wheel off, arch lining out, impossible to access caps/screws/clips, etc.
I've recently learnt that I can't just replace the car battery. The battery needs to be registered and the car coded to accept the new battery!
Crazy. I'm tempted to get rid and buy my recent itch - an e30 325i Sport.
Know what you mean with regards to tools but I reckon that usually if I buy a tool to do a job it is still cheaper than getting someone else to do it and I have the tool for next time, ditto cans of stuff, tape and all the consumables you end up using.
Half of it for me is convenience, can do an oil change on a Saturday morning with the radio on and a brew, dont have to drive to the nearest main dealer or garage and then get back, only to find out it isnt ready yet, I get round the needing it the following day by having enough cars to not worry, cycling, walking and public transport.
Will change the oil on the year old C1, will be keeping it for ages so dont need a service history, will record everything in the book anyway, then it is up to the future purchaser to decide whether my receipts and notes on a cheap, old but probably very tidy car are valid, wouldnt do it on a year old BMW but on a six grand Citroen it is fair game.
Half of it for me is convenience, can do an oil change on a Saturday morning with the radio on and a brew, dont have to drive to the nearest main dealer or garage and then get back, only to find out it isnt ready yet, I get round the needing it the following day by having enough cars to not worry, cycling, walking and public transport.
Will change the oil on the year old C1, will be keeping it for ages so dont need a service history, will record everything in the book anyway, then it is up to the future purchaser to decide whether my receipts and notes on a cheap, old but probably very tidy car are valid, wouldnt do it on a year old BMW but on a six grand Citroen it is fair game.
Triumph Man said:
Depends how much you break it in the process 
↑ This!I try to do whatever I can myself. Garages never seem to fix the problem properly. If (when) I break things its part of the learning experience and will hopefully save me from doing it again in the future!
Having just had one of the self levelling rear shocks go on my Volvo, I took it to a local Volvo specialist to be told the self levelling (nivomat) shocks are £400 a pop(!) and of course you need to replace them in pairs, so thats £800 before the labour even... Not a hope in hell of affording that.
Got a 2nd had pair of non levelling rear shocks and springs for £30 off the Volvo owners club forum and £15 for a set of spring clamps (broke my last set), took me about 4 hours to change them over. Probably saved about £1000! Pretty sure the ride is much better now on the non levelling ones (well it would be, it was broke before... but you know what I mean...)
It helps that I like tinkering though.
Edited by RP1 on Wednesday 13th June 13:21
After getting a huge and angrily debated bill from Nissan several years ago I do all the work myself, except servicing on the Elise which still has FLSH (slightly too worried about resale to DIY it). So everything from clutches, turbo installs, engine swaps, new brake lines plus all the usual servicing stuff on the fleet.
Scariest job so far was rad replacement on the Elise - taking the front clam off for the first time in 13 years. It was some grief, but given the seized fasteners to deal with I suspect it would have been well over a grand at dealer prices.
Even including the cost of all my tools and my engineering degree I think I'm still ahead.
Scariest job so far was rad replacement on the Elise - taking the front clam off for the first time in 13 years. It was some grief, but given the seized fasteners to deal with I suspect it would have been well over a grand at dealer prices.
Even including the cost of all my tools and my engineering degree I think I'm still ahead.
BriC175 said:
The amount of money I've saved is in the thousands most likely. Although if I wasn't so into getting my hands dirty, I'd probably have had more reliable, cheaper cars over the years!
Seconded.My dads clio has been serviced by me and is on 249,000 miles and ready to be sold on now!
Saved loads, on the wifes Accord Type-S with dents all over it etc no point in getting a nice car, or bothering with stamps from the dealers.. So just do the oil/filter every year, and the plugs every 3 or so.. It just keeps on going.
Did all the work on the clio, and on my track car and a fair bit on the megane sport.
And I now have an air compressor, so nothing will stop me now.
Did all the work on the clio, and on my track car and a fair bit on the megane sport.
And I now have an air compressor, so nothing will stop me now.
On my Avensis daily driver, I do all the jobs that I can do with the equipment I have.
This year so far;
New discs and pads all round = £110, 3 hrs
New rear calipers = 2 X £70, 1.5 hrs
New washer nozzle = £10, 2 mins
New OEM lambda/oygen sensor = £50, 10 mins
60k service (quite a big one), took about 3 hours all in;
Oil = £17.99
Oil Filter = £2.99
Spark Plugs = £19.99
Coolant 5.7L = £15
Gearbox oil 2.2L = £20
and do you know what? I enjoy it. There, I've said it. I enjoy doing my own work on my crappy but reliable old Toyota, it's much better knowing that it's been done properly and not by some spotty apprentice or hungover grease monkey.
Plus, it gets me away from the wife for a few hours
This year so far;
New discs and pads all round = £110, 3 hrs
New rear calipers = 2 X £70, 1.5 hrs
New washer nozzle = £10, 2 mins
New OEM lambda/oygen sensor = £50, 10 mins
60k service (quite a big one), took about 3 hours all in;
Oil = £17.99
Oil Filter = £2.99
Spark Plugs = £19.99
Coolant 5.7L = £15
Gearbox oil 2.2L = £20
and do you know what? I enjoy it. There, I've said it. I enjoy doing my own work on my crappy but reliable old Toyota, it's much better knowing that it's been done properly and not by some spotty apprentice or hungover grease monkey.
Plus, it gets me away from the wife for a few hours
Edited by V88Dicky on Wednesday 13th June 13:50
Edited by V88Dicky on Wednesday 13th June 13:52
Easy in the thousands despite my limited ability.
Helped a lot of friends and family out as well which is always nice. Although I can't say all of them appreciated it, especially when you end up butchering your favourite 12mm single hex halfords pro-socket and they just look at you.
Destroyed many plastic clips though. I even had an advisory once for "excessive use of cable ties" - bds.
Helped a lot of friends and family out as well which is always nice. Although I can't say all of them appreciated it, especially when you end up butchering your favourite 12mm single hex halfords pro-socket and they just look at you.
Destroyed many plastic clips though. I even had an advisory once for "excessive use of cable ties" - b
ds. Just replaced 2 xenon headlight bulbs in my S3.
I phoned the dealer for a laugh and they said the bulbs cannot be replaced and I'd need to buy 2 headlight units at £440+vat each, a total of £1,056 inc vat.
A quick search on the net found me replacement bulbs for £40 and an audi forum supplied me with a workshop manual describing how to remove the headlights.
All in all and easy 45 mins work. It's sickening to think that there must be people out there getting ripped off to the tune of £1000 for what is essentially 2 headlight bulbs.
I phoned the dealer for a laugh and they said the bulbs cannot be replaced and I'd need to buy 2 headlight units at £440+vat each, a total of £1,056 inc vat.
A quick search on the net found me replacement bulbs for £40 and an audi forum supplied me with a workshop manual describing how to remove the headlights.
All in all and easy 45 mins work. It's sickening to think that there must be people out there getting ripped off to the tune of £1000 for what is essentially 2 headlight bulbs.
I have always fixed my own cars. But for insurance values I estimated my tool kit to be worth £4k. I have been building it up since I was 14 years old.
The things about fixing my own cars which would annoy me are
having to repair a car for use the next day. (this will be a problem as well if someone else has to fix it. but then you could get a courtesy car). For this reason I have 4 cars.
Having to fix cars on the driveway in the rain.
Not having the correct tools.
I have never worried about service stamps (but then all my cars are old, the newest car I owned was 5 years old when I got it). I just write in the service book and keep receipts. Buyers have always excepted it without question. My cars are well looked after, and I have not failed an MOT for 20 years. And just 1 advice in that time for a screw in a tyre, which I probably got at the MOT shop.
The things about fixing my own cars which would annoy me are
having to repair a car for use the next day. (this will be a problem as well if someone else has to fix it. but then you could get a courtesy car). For this reason I have 4 cars.
Having to fix cars on the driveway in the rain.
Not having the correct tools.
I have never worried about service stamps (but then all my cars are old, the newest car I owned was 5 years old when I got it). I just write in the service book and keep receipts. Buyers have always excepted it without question. My cars are well looked after, and I have not failed an MOT for 20 years. And just 1 advice in that time for a screw in a tyre, which I probably got at the MOT shop.
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