I do not have enough money to make that repair.
Really, you do not have enough money to maintain your car? I run into this statement often. This time it was a single mom with two little ones. She said, she barely had enough money for the oil change, much less any repairs.
The repair needed was a cooling system hose @ $63.00 parts and labor. I could not let a good car over heat and turn into a bigger issue. If the engine overheated, I knew she would have no money to fix that. So I gifted the repair to the client.
Then I issued a challenge to the client. I handed her a two-quart empty juice jug, it was clean…
I asked her to take any spare change she gets and drop it into the jug. I also told her not to cheat the jug. Leave the change in the jug till the next oil change. Then bring the jug to us and our morning guy would run the jug over to the Coin Star Machine during her next visit for repairs.
Well, the client came in and she was shocked when the jug was counted. She had enough money for the oil change and two other maintenance needs.
Spare change can go along way if you do not cheat the jug.
It does not take much money to maintain a car. maintenance is on going and if you ignore it, the car will break down. The national average for a basic economy car care is $.08 per mile driven. This is does not include European cars, big trucks, suv’s, 4×4’s and sports cars.
Edmunds has a great maintenance calculator that can help you find out your cars basic costs for maintenance.
