Back to all

Budget for Maintenance in Ocala

January 16, 2017

Sometimes busy Ocala residents dream about going back to the “simpler” days of our grandparents. But if you could travel back in time and take a road trip around Florida in a Model T, you might change your mind. The improved designs and quality of today's automobiles have significantly reduced the amount of time Ocala residents spend at the side of the road during breakdowns. With proper maintenance, today's vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before.

Some of those improvements, however, have led to higher repair costs. For example, older cars often broke down from vapor lock. Gas vaporized while traveling from the gas tank to the fuel pump. No gas, no power. The car quits going. The solution was simple — you just sat by the road until the car would start up again. Today's Ocala drivers would hardly tolerate that kind of inconvenience, and it's likely that yesterday's Ocala drivers didn't care much for it, either. So on today's vehicles, the fuel pump is actually located inside the gas tank. Problem solved. No more vapor lock. The downside is that now it costs a lot more to repair or replace a fuel pump at Ocala area auto service centers.

Ocala drivers certainly should be grateful for the improvements in auto design that keep us off the side of the road, but it comes at a price. Vehicle care in Florida  simply costs more than it used to. So if you think about it, Ocala drivers can avoid many vehicle repairs by preventive maintenance. If we plan for maintenance, we can avoid a lot of costly repairs.

Just a bit of auto advice from Tuffy Ocala: If you like new vehicles and can afford them, then buy them. But if you are buying a new vehicle every few years because you're afraid of the higher repair costs for older vehicles, then you ought to take a second look at the numbers. You can save a lot of money on car payments and Florida auto insurance with an older vehicle and preventive auto maintenance can help you avoid most car repair bills. And if you budget for preventive maintenance you have done at Tuffy Ocala, it can become as routine as a car payment — only a whole lot less!

Tuffy Ocala
2105 Southwest College Road
Ocala, Florida 34471
(352) 690-6111

More articles from Tuffy Ocala

Why is Air Not Coming Out of My Vents?

December 1, 2024

You climb inside your vehicle, start the ignition, and reach for the fan control for the heating or air conditioning. But when you try to crank it up, no air comes out of the vents. It can make for a very uncomfortable trip, whether its hot or cold outside. Its important for the comfort of you a... More

Keeping Your Cool (Coolant leak repair)

November 24, 2024

If theres one thing you should pay attention to with your vehicle, its the temperature gauge. Its the one that may say C---H (that means cold---hot). Or maybe yours has a picture of a thermometer on it and a blue and red zone. If you see the needle heading farther to the H or red area, that mea... More

Catalytic Converter Replacement

November 17, 2024

Many of us have become aware of how important it is to keep our planets air clean, and your vehicle has a key component that helps do just that: the catalytic converter. Its in the exhaust system, and its job is to superheat unburned, harmful byproducts in the exhaust, so they dont get spewed ou... More