[quote=flu]
Pretty much, all you need for a beater car is
1. Oil changes every 6 month/5k or 1 year/10k if you’re doing synthetic… longer interval if you really dont care
2. Brake pads and maybe rotors (maybe every 2 years for pads, every 4 for rotors)
3. Tires (every 5 years)
4. Smog inspection (every other year)
5. battery maybe
Most good reliable car will maintain most of their reliability even if you neglect most of the recommended service. It’s a beater car, you don’t need to do everything that shops tell you need to do to fatten their profits. You drive that car until it breaks, which surprisingly will be a lot longer than most people think.[/quote]Totally agree and this is exactly what I’m doing. You can do oil change and brakes yourself. Parts are dirt cheap. Tires aren’t too bad either if you have <17" rims. You can get tires with 80k miles warranty for ~$400-500. That should last you at least 4 years if you drive 20k miles a year. So, really, it should only cost you ~$200-300/year in maintenance of a beater.
