As the saying goes, buying a car is the cheap part, owning a car is the real deal. The cost of maintaining a car can be downright expensive and even overwhelming if you didn’t factor that in when making a decision to buy a car.

Of the many maintenance costs that comes with owning a car like insurance cover, and cost of fuel, servicing the car is the most expensive. It can tempt the most committed of car owners to skimp on a service a few times than they are proud. Failing to take your car for service could prove to be more costly though when you are forced to spend more on major repairs and overhauls. There are many ways to save money on car service, none of which involves skipping a scheduled service.

Importance of servicing your car

Servicing is an important part of vehicle maintenance which keeps it running efficiently, reliably and safely.

As a car owner you need to understand the importance of regular service in keeping your car in the road for long and reducing maintenance costs. You need to know where to get manufacturer-recommended parts, oil and lubes for your specific engine. Powerstroke vehicles requires different products from gasoline cars.

That doesn’t mean that the cost of servicing your car should leave a huge dent on your pockets every month.

Sourcing for parts

You need not understand the engineering behind motor vehicle spare parts, but you need to how and where to purchase the genuine spare parts for your car.

You spend a lot of money servicing your car because most of the time you don’t the actual costs of the parts that repair shops fit into your car. Some repair shops can charge you exorbitant fees bordering on extortion if you don’t how much the spare parts cost. Some even fit poor quality parts that don’t last as long as genuine ones do making you make several trips to the repair shops and getting charged every single time.

Reduce your servicing bill by getting your vehicle chassis number and going to a reputable spare parts provider and using that to get the electronic parts catalogue for your car. The EPC provides you with the exact spares parts that your car needs.

Take advantage of your warranty

Almost all the dealerships provide a warranty cover when buying a new car with them. The warranty covers repairs and service within a certain duration or within a certain driving mileage limit, whichever comes first.

You will save quite a lot by being loyal to your dealership as long as the warranty remains valid. You stand to benefit from free service include wheel alignment and fluid change when you stick to the dealership where you bought your car.

In fact, going to a different repair shop often voids the warranty cover should anything break or get replaced by a counterfeit while your car gets attended to.

Your dealer is also likely to replace and repair a faulty spare part at no extra costs even after the warranty period is over.