Today, I received a call from the garage I dropped my car off at that quoted me $475 for various maintenance and repairs. Ouch! To be fair, it’s been a long time coming. The last major cost for my car was about six months ago, when I paid $250 for a 30,000 mile checkup. Since then, my breaks started squealing, my oil needed changing, I needed a Massachusetts state inspection, and I began having starter problems.

Am I upset? No, not really. I got several recommendations on this garage I brought my car to, so I feel fairly confident that I’m not being ripped off. Therefore, all that is left is paying money to maintaining one of my largest assets, my car. If I have to spend money to maintain a car that could last me another three, five, seven years (it’s from 2003) then it’s worth it!

I have to admit, logging onto my Honda Finance account and seeing that I only have a year and about $3200 left on my car payment made me feel better. I purchased my car at an excellent interest rate of 1.9% APR, paying $280 a month over five years. Now that I am about a year away from finishing the payment, I am beginning to appreciate how great it will feel to pay off my first real asset.

So when unexpected costs like this come up, I don’t really consider it a loss of $475, but instead putting money towards an investment. It’s also a prime example of how having money set aside in an emergency savings account can be useful.