Another good tip is get to know a mechanic. Saves bucket loads.
My next door neighbor is a mechanic, and services my car at his home. Costs bugger all. Normal service is around $85. When brakes are done also, add about $100 on. A major 200,000km service on my Commodore cost about $240. Most of these costs are parts cost. He doesn't charge much at all for labor.
If I eventually move away/whatnot, a good mate of mine is an apprentice mechanic, so he can take over.
You are correct.
I do many repairs myself, but that is on my vintage cars
however, on modern vehicles, self service is increasingly impractical, for a variety of factors.
Like I said, probably should be a new thread...but,
On a recent car, an older Audi, a fault developed, which, I diagnosed myself.
I rang the dealer for a quote on parts and labor, Parts $100, labor $440.
When i said how come, they told me you had to remove manifold.
I said "no you dont".....Service manager dissed me over the phone.
End result, fitted the part myself, without removing ANYTHING except the faulty bit, took 30 minutes.
Charges for mechanical service is about $65 per hour, and that includes the mechanic farting & scratching his ar$e, phone calls, talking to customers etc etc