Hit 100,000 miles on my Camry last Tuesday and it finally clicked why every mechanic I meet nods approvingly when I say it's a Toyota.

I started tracking every oil change and warranty claim in a little notebook from 2019, and flipping through it now I see I spent exactly $1,200 on non-routine repairs over the whole ten years - has anyone else's extended warranty actually paid off like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

martin.angela1mo ago

Ever since I bought a used Corolla in 2016 I've been using a little pocket ledger (the kind you'd get at a drugstore for a dollar) to log absolutely everything. Tires, brakes, you name it. It's actually kind of satisfying to see how the costs stack up versus a payment on a new car every month. That $1,200 figure is impressive though, I've got closer to $2,000 in mine but that's mostly because I bought it with 60,000 miles already on it.

-1

luna5891mo ago

Not to nitpick @martin.angela but I'm pretty sure most drugstore pocket ledgers are more like $2 or $3 these days, especially since 2016. Inflation and all that. Still a steal though, probably the cheapest car expense you'll ever have besides maybe air for the tires. My own little notebook has a section just for gas station coffee stains, which adds a certain character to the numbers. The real value is just having everything in one place so you don't forget when the last oil change was.