It takes years of consistent savings through hard work and sacrifice to get a small Sedan parked in your parking lot .

We intricately calculate the EMI cost , down payment , interest to be paid on it but often ignore one of the biggest costs which often hidden from the mindset of a middle class person. That cost is called maintenance cost .

A middle class family may be able to successfully achieve their dream but if they are unable to maintain that dream , it may end up breaking up and that breakdown cost would be too high to afford alongside the EMI they are paying .

Skipping preventive maintenance may feel okay because cars don’t punish the neglect immediately . It often accumulates the ignorance and turns it into a bigger breakdown maintenance .

Preventive maintenance of a vehicle is not necessarily a car topic but it is actually a personal finance blog . You will get to know why below .

The Deferred Cost of Skipping Maintenance

Not opting for regular maintenance does not just make expense disappear , you are only deferring the cost .

A ₹1,500–₹2,000 preventive repair which when skipped can turn into a ₹10,000–₹20,000 breakdown later . Other than breakdown cost , the towing cost , emergency repair or even the loss of a day of work would add up to it .

Here is what deferral would look like

Preventive maintenance	Cost if skipped / breakdown	How many times it rises
Brake pad replacement — ₹2,500	Brake pads + discs — ₹6,500	2.6×
Battery replacement — ₹5,500	Battery + towing/electrical repair — ₹9,500	1.7×
Tyre replacement — ₹4,500	Tyre failure + wheel damage — ₹10,000	2.2×
Clutch replacement — ₹12,000	Clutch + flywheel damage — ₹20,000	1.7×
Coolant/cooling-system maintenance — ₹2,500	Overheating + head-gasket repair — ₹25,000	10×
Engine-oil service — ₹3,500	Major engine repair — ₹35,000	10×

1)When Car EMI Leaves No Room for Maintenance

For a middle class family , once the EMI , insurance and fuel cost of the car begins to hit their bank account , the vehicle maintenance is the first thing they begin to cut from their budget . This feels like the easiest way to save a few thousand rupees today .

But the irony is that we understand compounding when it comes to SIPs , but don’t learn that the same neglected maintenance would compound against you . The EMI may be fixed, but the consequence of cutting maintenance is not . Middle class families have budget for owning the car but rarely for maintaining it and keeping it dependable.

Also check out : He Earned ₹1.8 Lakh per Month, Yet Couldn’t Arrange ₹2.5 Lakh in an Emergency

2)When Your Car Is Your Only Backup

Wealthier households generally have multiple vehicles , hence creating a backup in case one of their car breaks down . But the same cannot be told about the middle class families since they have barely managed to earn enough for a single vehicle .

They generally use the same vehicle for dropping their children to work , getting to office , attending emergencies or going for a vacation/long drive . So when the vehicle breaks down, the entire daily routine logistics of the family breaks apart .

One person may have to take a leave from office , children might have to opt for an alternative way to reach school ,can delay their ability to respond to the emergency . This is why when you have only one vehicle , reliability matters . When there is no redundancy , preventive maintenance becomes your redundancy .

3)Depreciation Is No Excuse for Neglect

“What is the point of maintaining this car , when its getting too old and i am going to sell it any way ?”

Depreciation and Maintenance are two different topics but they do converge with each other while sale of an asset takes place . Just because you want to sell a car does not mean you would get a value as you wish . The value would depend on the ageing and the condition of the vehicle .

Take a simple example , you bought a car worth ₹8 lakhs . After 5 years of use , the value would be ₹4 lakhs . Now , that the car has worn out tires , non-functioning AC , scratches , dents on its body and no maintenance records to support your claim . Then you may barely be able to list this vehicle for sale and if listed , the selling price would be significantly lower.

Because when a buyer sees this type of car , they only think about the potential repairing costs and how badly it was treated by its owner and hence they would heavily negotiate the selling price or just walk away

Cars24 says that even small issues can impact the final offer , valuation of the vehicle depends heavily on its condition , mechanical health and documented service history . So , if you are thinking of saving ₹20,000–₹30,000 by avoiding maintenance , you are actually killing your own car’s resale value .

4)Car Insurance Is Not a Maintenance Plan

Insuring your vehicle does not guarantee claim under all circumstances . This is something what middle class always fail to comprehend . Insurance is only there to give you claim during accidental damages , not just because you neglected your car for a long time .

Standard car insurance policy always recommends taking utmost care of the vehicle and keep it in a good working condition . A worn out brake pad , bald tire cannot be claimed via insurance just because it eventually fails .

Even the accidental damage to the car caused by such worn out components would not be applicable for claim since upon investigation it would be eventually found that the brakes and tires were not replaced despite being in worn out condition .

Also check out : 7 Insurance Related Mistakes Middle-Class Indian Families Make

5)Breakdown Cost Is a Random Tax

Each and every rupee in the salary account of a middle class person is mapped from the day salary is deposited in the account . Some goes to FD , some into SIP , some towards SIP , groceries , bills , emergency and even into EMIs .

Then the car breaks down just because the owner neglected its maintenance for a long time. The problem is not the breakdown repair that costs ₹15,000 or ₹20,000 but it was not really mapped or budgeted .

Hence , the money which was intended for SIP or emergency would have to be redirected to it . This not only breaks the discipline in the investing but also creates a dent in the retirement funds .

This is why a major car breakdown feels like a random tax on the household budget. Regular maintenance of the vehicle would help reduce such ambush on your financial planning , because predictability itself has a financial value .

Conclusion

A car is something that helps you move from one place to another . Hence , when you own it, you have to look beyond its purchase cost and the ongoing repair costs required to keep it usable .

In general , maintenance may not look like a rewarding expense , yet it acts as a safety net against a sudden huge breakdown cost which can also impact your daily life . The goal is not to spend more on your already expensive car , but it is to make sure that car continues to serve you with full reliability and efficiency .