One of the most popular posts among PF bloggers I see is preaching about the emergency fund. Everyone should have one in case something tragic happens say like you loose your job. But what about those not so emergency things that come up like car repair? Yes you can take it out of the emergency fund but is it a true emergency? I know it may seem excessive but maybe you should create a couple other savings accounts to put money aside for those other more routine emergencies like your car maintenance and repairs.
Late last week I noticed my ‘check engine’ light popped on and idling a little rough. That of course triggers the o crap moment of how much is this going to cost. So took it in this morning and turned out it was a bad air control valve, a $300 bad air control valve. Now that is not that bad, could have been much worse. Luckily this month has been a good improvement over last month at the studio so I was not worried and it was covered, in fact got the oil changed as well since it was a bit overdue.
Of course while it was in they recommended a fuel injector cleaning, another $120, and they noticed my valve cover gasket was leaking a bit, another $600. These are things I will have to put aside for another month at least. Now if I had another savings account designated for auto repair and maintenance I might of had that covered. With a bank like ING its pretty easy to set up one and have $10 or whatever amount you wish automatically transfered to it monthly or even weekly. That way you dont even have to think about it and its there for the next time your car breaks down or its time for tune up. With my car being almost 10 years old I’m thinking I may want to get this account to $1000 and that should cover most anything.
Some of you have pretty large savings account and may not worry about things like this, but for others it may be a great peace of mind knowing you have some money socked aside just for your car. Face it most of us couldn’t live with out our cars and putting a little aside for it is better than monthly payments on a brand new one. Worst case in can be down payment on a new one if your car ends up beyond repair.
How do you handle those unexpected car moments?
Similar to your suggestions, we handle emergency car situations two ways: 1) We budget $100 per month for car repairs. 2) We have an emergency fund for anything that exceeds our monthly amount budgeted.
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