Top 12 Pennywise-pound-foolish Car Practices. If not for the popularity of the above idiom, the topic best suited for this article happens to be ‘Top 12 Kobowise-Naira-foolish car practices’; but either way, what this article is about is simply stating a few odd practices most motorist indulge in with the intention of making huge savings. However in reality, these practices lead to relatively higher spending at the end of the day. In this list are the causes and consequent effects of some-may be- regular practices we may just be guilty of as motorist and how such translates to higher spending. Brake pad wear leading to rotor (popularly known as brake disc) damage:if your brake pads in active use goes below a quarter of an inch, you stand the risk of damaging your rotor, especially when metal-metal contact is made owing to the action of your foot pedal. Some Nigerians even keep using their brake pads until it falls off -no jokes here. Engine oil overuse leading to poor cooling and high engine wear:many motorist fail to recognize the primary roleof oil cooling in engines and how it is hampered when used up oil keeps being circulated around the engine with most of its properties and viscosity lost. Wear rate is higher when you continually use used-up oil and the result is more metal debris in your oil and poor engine conditions. CV (constant velocity)-joints’ boot rupture:if you change your cv-joints boots just on time, you may salvage the entire joint and even your drive shafts. But most just keep driving like it’s no man’s business with leaky and oily boots. Poor wheel alignment/balancing leading to uneven tyre wear and damage:your reluctance to perform a process that just may require as little as#2500 would end up causing damages that will require #40,000 or more to fix. It’s just plain and simple maths, as more than one wheel is affected by poor wheel alignment/balancing conditions. Shock absorber damage leading to more steering work:well this condition may not materialize immediately but whenever your shock absorbers are down; your steering suffers and you stand the risk of changing or repairing steering components anytime soon. Managing wrongly inflated tyres and spending more on fuel:well this practice just had to get on the list; according to experts, 20% more fuel is expended by cars to compensate for poor tyres (inflation) conditions. Coolant/water underuse leading to engine overheating and damage:overheating causes irreversible damage like warping of engine blocks and cylinder heads, also irregular expansions in some engine areas eventually leads to the need for total engine replacement. In most cases the simple cause of this can be the use of plain tap water alone and fiddling with radiators. Driving with your ‘check engine’ light on:at this point your vehicle has ‘limped-in’ and your fuelling budget inevitably goes up by as much as 15%. If you happen to be a regular daily driving motorist, this may translate to as much as#8000 extra monthly for a condition that can be fixed with #5000(for diagnostics)+ #10,000 oxygen sensor(just saying). Not documenting repairs and spending more on fake parts: without proper vehicle maintenance documentation, it becomes almost impossible to track certain trends and discover fake parts from some vendors. Not getting your license and vehicle documents and spending more on bribes and tickets:well you might evade this by leaving home early and heading back from work late, but for how long? Unscrupulous/non-bribe collecting LASTMA, VIO, FRSC officials and police men are on the hunt for your type! Last time I checked, in Lagos for instance before even retrieving your impounded vehicle, it will be required for you show a proof of your tax-payment (tax returns) records for 3years and pay as much as #15,000 without the daily demurrage fee. Not spending on proper driving schools and wrecking your car/spending most of your time in panel-beating(car body) shops: time is money! Not using your time productively amounts to losses. And guess what you hand-in to Oga-panel whenever you pay him an unpleasant visit? Money! Not servicing your automatic transmission when due and spending lots of money when your car breaks down on:LASTMA(for Lagosians)+New gearbox + towing fee(God saves you that you are so far from any mechanic workshop)+labour cost +cost of finding good labour. At this point you don’t need any more cash breakdown! With this sketchy analysis of a few driving practices, the real question here is; are you really saving?
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 07:09:43 +0000
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