Les Schwab Tire Centers began in January of 1952, when Les Schwab purchased a small OK Rubber Welders tire store in Prineville, Oregon. Today, Les Schwab is one of the leading independent tire dealers in the United States with more than 400 store locations throughout the Western United States.

The base of Les Schwab corporate operations remains in Central Oregon, where they operate one of the largest tire retreading plants in the country, and own a distribution center in Prineville that is more than 2,000,000 square feet.

A few advantages of getting your tires and auto repairs from Les Schwab are:

1. Neat Clean Stores
2. Supermarket Selection. Les Schwab buys their tires like groceries and provides  a large selection, so you get the right tire at the right price.
3. Sudden Service: Les Schwab offers fast, friendly service. They hand torque lug nuts and wash your tires and wheels. Plus, they provide mobile service trucks when the customer can’t make it to their stores.
4. Convenient Credit: Les Schwab offers 90 Days Same as Cash
5. Warranties in Writing: Les Schwab always provides written warranty  and  following additional free services:
   1. FREE ROAD HAZARD PROTECTION
   2. FREE ROTATIONS
   3. FREE MOUNTING
   4. FREE FLAT REPAIR

In addition to their excellent tire selection, Les Schwab also offers several auto and car services:

1. Brakes
2. Lube and Oil change
3. Tires and Wheels – Alignment
4. Shocks and Struts
5. Batteries

Les Schwab offers great service at a very good price and excellent customer service.

I have a 2000 Toyota Camry which I love. It has the right features.. nothing more nothing less than what I need in my car. It has over 135,000 miles on it and still runs very good. However, in last one year I have spent approx $1500 on oil change, brake, serpentine belt, timing belt and catalytic converter.  The Kelly book value of the car is only $1700!

I am always debating on whether I need to dispose off this car and buy a new car or should I hang on to it and be happy even if I have to spend additional $2000 on repairs and maintenance.

Let us see what factors should I consider and what is the math between the two options- Buy or Keep and continue to spend on repairs.

The Math Myth

At some point, almost every car owner will be faced with repair bills. And as the bills start to add up to a large proportion of a car’s value, many owners start to figure that their car has officially kicked the bucket. But thinking that way is actually a costly mistake.

This should be considered in a different fashion.. .. At a basic level, a car’s value — any car’s value — is its ability to provide transportation. An older car and new car can both do that. The question drivers whose cars are on life support should be asking is: How can I get the transportation a car provides at the lowest cost? Once you take a car’s potential monetary value out of the equation, the math becomes clear.

Take my example where the repair cost was same or closer to the car value. Should I sell my car? No! Because while it would take about $1,500 to keep that old Camry on the road, buying a new Toyota Camry will costs about $18,000. This clears the math myth!

The Real Math

Here’s the math any car owner should do when deciding if their older car is worth keeping

Take my car example:

If I spend another $1500 and drive it 15000 miles/ year, then my total cost excluding the gas will be  $1500 plus insurance and I will not be paying any monthly lease/loan payments.

If I buy a new Toyota Camry for $18,000 then  at 4% interest rate, I will be spending approx $400/month or $4800/ year.

Therefore by keeping your car, you can save approx $2500 every year

Other Factors to Consider

If your older car is consistently unreliable and causes you to miss work show up late, or repeatedly leaves you stranded along dark highways, it might be time for a new one.

Prundo Bear

An amazing rock formation in the shape of a teddy bear, called ‘prundo bear’ was discovered recently by the Prundo.com CEO Alka Gupta. This rock formation is in California and the exact location of this formation can be found by visiting the website www.prundo.com/bear. According to Alka Gupta, this rock formation will be a treat for the kids who will love the formation and would appreciate how close it resembles to a teddy bear. She has named this rock formation as ‘prundo bear’ after her company name.

Alka also added a caution regarding this rock formation.  As this amazing rock formation can be viewed from a high speed and high traffic road, she has cautioned all viewers to make sure that they follow all traffic rules and regulation and should be extremely careful about the traffic as it can lead to a serious accident. Therefore, please use caution when viewing this bear.

About Prundo: Prundo.com ( http://www.prundo.com), located in Irvine, California, is based on a patent-pending concept, to make auto repairs easier and cheaper for both, their customers and the auto repair shops. Customers can view and download money-saving coupons for brake, tire, oil change and over 30 other routine maintenance and auto repairs needs. Registration is free for all members