Ducker Carlisle<\/a>, car maintenance costs have been increasing by 7% to 8% annually since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\nDriving factors include supply issues, labor costs, oil prices, and tariffs.<\/p>\n
Most auto parts are imported, including parts used in American-made vehicles.<\/p>\n
Ducker Carlisle says a shortage of truck drivers is also contributing to higher costs.<\/p>\n
The services seeing the fastest price increases are tire replacements and oil changes.<\/p>\n
“But there isn’t a single part of the car where I expect maintenance costs to go down,” said Nate Chenenko of Ducker Carlisle. “These high fuel prices and trucking restrictions, they just make the price of everything go up.”<\/p>\n
So here are six tips to save.<\/p>\n
1. Look down the line. Get services done sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
2. Don’t ignore problems. Preventive maintenance is cost-effective as problems will cost you more in the long run.<\/p>\n
3. Shop around. Prices can vary widely.<\/p>\n
4. Watch for the upsell. Don’t agree to something you really don’t need.<\/p>\n
5. Don’t double pay. Check if the service or repair is under warranty or covered under a pre-paid maintenance or service contract.<\/p>\n
6. DIY. Many “how-to” videos for simple maintenance work can be found online.<\/p>\n
“It has never be easier to do your own work on your own car modern cars,” Chenenko said. “There is a YouTube video for pretty much every car out there.”<\/p>\n
He recommended watching multiple step-by-step instructional videos from certified mechanics or parts retailers and comparing the information they provide.<\/p>\n
“They’ll tell you what tools you need and everything. And then look at the comments under the video and just make sure that they did it right,” Chenenko said.<\/p>\n
Among the maintenance tasks consumers may be able to perform themselves are replacing windshield wipers, cabin and engine air filters, and headlights.<\/p>\n
Chenenko also suggested drivers consider rotating their own tires or changing their own oil.<\/p>\n
He said he has performed many of these maintenance tasks with his son and other neighborhood children, and saved a lot of money in the process.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — As vehicle maintenance costs continue to rise faster than inflation, experts say car owners can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[117955,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-282614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-117955","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}