Saturday, April 25, 2020

Coronavirus Happy Car

Cars are taking a vacation on account of the coronavirus and its associated stay-at-home orders.  As a result, I am taking a car expense vacation.

My wife's daily 60-mile commute is over - gas expense $0. Son's school closed - his gas expense $0. The price of gas lowered from $3.50 in December to $2.89 today - a 17% savings per gallon.  Not bad. Although I was disappointed that gas station wasn't paying me to fill my tank when the price of a barrel of oil was negative $34 last week.

We have driven each of our cars at least once a week for at least 20 miles as recommended by torquenews.com to keep the battery charged and move the fluids around.  Even with this minimal driving, we have not had to refill our tanks in 6 weeks since the lockdown started.

We received a 20% rebate on our insurance premium for two months as ordered by the California insurance commissioner. (Check with your insurer.)
 
Maintenance expense is down: no car wash, it is going to be awhile before my next 6000 mile check up, and no rush hour means that my brakes will last longer.

Fear about exceeding the mileage on the warranty has decreased. If I was leasing a car right now, I would definitely be a happy camper.

So little car, enjoy your vacation, I appreciate the savings.

Be safe and take care.

Posts Tuesday and Saturday

2 comments:

Anna said...

I didn't know that cars needed to be driven at least 20 miles to get the fluids going! I've only driven it once a week at 6 miles for groceries. I thought I was lucky to get gas at $2.67!

John Peters II said...

Wow I haven't $2.67 in decades.