Keeping Track of Auto Repair Records Can Save Money
by John DeCostanza
You can save a lot more of your auto repair dollars by knowing what you have already spent compared to how you plan to spend future dollars. Good record keeping is the key to not wasting money on repairs that have either been performed previously or have failed during their warranty period.
Nearly three years ago when I wrote, The Car Repair Log a Money Saver and a Defense Against Rip-Offs, mobile apps and vehicle history storing sites were barely getting off the ground. Now there is no reason not to have everything that has been done to your car recorded in one place on the internet.
Car companies, auto parts merchandisers and oil companies offer consumers space to record what has been done to their cars. Each provider will emphasize what facilitates the sale of their products. For example, AutoZone has fields in their history entry form which allows part numbers to be added. Some car companies integrate the recommended service procedures with the consumer’s recording process. The good news is that these companies offer this service for free as an extension of customer service and as a promotion of e-commerce.
However if you don’t mind spending money you can get a lot more than the free sites offer. For $14.95 per year you can list one vehicle with Ownersite.com and track just about everything pertaining to your car including fuel and maintenance charges as well as lease, loan and tax payments. The system will notify you of recalls and technical service bulletins and send you an email when it is time to change your oil.
When you sell your car Ownersite makes available a link you can place in your ad so that prospects can check out the maintenance and repairs that you have performed on your vehicle. For $39.95 you can track four vehicles for two years.
A good choice for the average car owner may be Yourgarageonline.com. It doesn’t have a lot of features that the detailed sites might offer but that can be a good thing. Who wants to spend a lot of time entering information when all that really is important is what was done and the price of the repair? This service is offered for free by a North Carolina web development company and you may opt out of the dissemination of any of your information.
The alternative to not having vehicle repair history at your fingertips is to pay for the job a second time. It’s just too easy to keep good records and have them easily accessible. So the next time you get that two o’clock call to approve the replacement of an axle shaft on the right front of your car you might want to know if it was the same one you had done eight months ago.
Copyright John DeCostanza 2010
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