Ode to Roadside Assistance

Thank goodness for roadside assistance! One of the items on my list for 2009 is to keep better track of the families financial affairs and thereby save the family some mulla. We could definitely benefit from a better organizational system when it comes to the "papers" we have lying around in every nook and cranny in the house. So in January of this year I reevaluated our level of coverage for our auto insurance as my first act of thrifty financial responsibility. We were quoted $150 to have our poor little Saturn towed to our good friend Ray's place of business for repairs. With a quick check to our auto insurance policy we discovered that we pay $15 per year to have roadside assistance on our policy. This covers running out of gas, $100 per incident if you need to be towed and $30 a day for transportation if our vehicle is in an accident and is unfortunately unable to be among the living. So now that we saved ourselves the $150 we must decide if the $15 a year is worth it. Hmmm. For now we think it is great and are very thankful for the wise decision. Go mama!

As a side note... Thanks to taking our business to a friend we trust we saved a boat load of money by not making costly and unnecessary repairs and he also made sure we didn't pay three times extra to get a part quicker.

Here are some tips I learned from this experience:

1) Ask for a list of repairs that need to be made but ask for your mechanic to prioritize them in the following manner. Required Repairs (the ones you have to have to get good old Martha home), Strongly Recommended and Related to the Issue Repairs, Strongly Recommended but not Related to the Issue Repairs and Recommended as Preventative Maintenance.

2) Also ask if there will be a discount on labor if any of the repairs are paired together. For us we combined replacing our cooling system and replacing the timing belt and saved $300 on labor as opposed to if we would have waited to come back and have it replaced. We are at 120,000 miles so the timing belt was sure to go soon. Glad we took care of that one.

3) If you can afford to wait a day or two you may save money on parts. Let your mechanic know that you don't mind waiting for the least expensive way to get your part. Some mechanics will pay up to 3 or 4 times the amount a part would normally cost just to get your car fixed earlier. You may initially be pleased with the quick turn around but not so pleased with the bottom line.

4) Take advantage of public transportation instead of renting a vehicle. This can save you $30-$40 dollars a day.

5) Ask them for the bottom line and then tell them what you can afford. Bargain with the mechanic? Why yes, you heard me bargain with them. We do it almost everywhere else, why not at Firestone? You will be surprised how much money you will save yourself by just being honest. They will come up with all sorts of ways to cut the costs..just try it.