Back to all

Budget for Maintenance in Lincoln

July 12, 2022

Sometimes busy Lincoln residents dream about going back to the “simpler” days of our grandparents. But if you could travel back in time and take a road trip around Nebraska in a Model T, you might change your mind. The improved designs and quality of today's automobiles have significantly reduced the amount of time Lincoln residents spend at the side of the road during breakdowns. With proper maintenance, today's vehicles can stay on the road longer than ever before.

Some of those improvements, however, have led to higher repair costs. For example, older cars often broke down from vapor lock. Gas vaporized while traveling from the gas tank to the fuel pump. No gas, no power. The car quits going. The solution was simple — you just sat by the road until the car would start up again. Today's Lincoln drivers would hardly tolerate that kind of inconvenience, and it's likely that yesterday's Lincoln drivers didn't care much for it, either. So on today's vehicles, the fuel pump is actually located inside the gas tank. Problem solved. No more vapor lock. The downside is that now it costs a lot more to repair or replace a fuel pump at Lincoln area auto service centers.

Lincoln drivers certainly should be grateful for the improvements in auto design that keep us off the side of the road, but it comes at a price. Vehicle care in Nebraska  simply costs more than it used to. So if you think about it, Lincoln drivers can avoid many vehicle repairs by preventive maintenance. If we plan for maintenance, we can avoid a lot of costly repairs.

Just a bit of auto advice from Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Lincoln: If you like new vehicles and can afford them, then buy them. But if you are buying a new vehicle every few years because you're afraid of the higher repair costs for older vehicles, then you ought to take a second look at the numbers. You can save a lot of money on car payments and Nebraska auto insurance with an older vehicle and preventive auto maintenance can help you avoid most car repair bills. And if you budget for preventive maintenance you have done at Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Lincoln, it can become as routine as a car payment — only a whole lot less!

Tuffy Tire & Auto Service Lincoln
1525 Pine Lake Rd
Lincoln, Nebraska 68512
402-421-1900
http://www.tuffylincoln.com

Need Service?

Request a Quote

More articles from Tuffy Lincoln

I Want a New Vehicle. Or Do I? (Vehicle Maintenance Payoffs)

February 22, 2026

Spring is a peak season for vehicle sales; companies aggressively market new models and offer all sorts of incentives. So you may be tempted to buy a shiny new beauty. But should you? If you've regularly maintained the vehicle you're driving now, you probably don't NEED a new one. Even if your... More

A Bright Spark (Ignition Coil Replacement)

February 15, 2026

Ever wonder how your vehicles engine is able to take the 12-volts from its battery and ramp that up to as high as the tens of thousands of volts it takes to fire its spark plugs? The secret is something called an ignition coil. Most newer vehicles have an ignition coil at each cylinder, but olde... More

Smooth Operator (Shock Absorbers)

February 8, 2026

When you are comfortably headed down the road, you may not realize how many of the imperfections in the driving surface are being smoothed out, so you hardly feel most of them. You can thank your shock absorbers for a lot of that comfort, and its important to make sure you keep your shocks in go... More