If you're someone who needs your own transport the one thing you would have identified very early on in your driving experience is that cars cost money, sometimes a lot of money. The cost doesn't end after you've purchased what took your fancy, sometimes, that can be just the beginning. Fortunately manufacturers such as Toyota offer extremely reliable vehicles. Although even then, inevitably something will go wrong.

For arguments sake let's say that when you bought your car you did so partly because it looked good, partly because it performed well and partly because you knew it was reliable. For arguments sake let's say that you bought a Toyota, a used Toyota. It served you well until the day it broke down. On that day, you shrugged to yourself that all cars breakdown sometime and figured that you might be able to take it round to your local Toyota dealer to have it repaired. You might have come away thinking to yourself that you should have learned motor mechanics as a skill because the charges quoted you were going to be difficult to meet. Not that it would have been any cheaper if you had owned a car produced by any other manufacturer. Garage repairs are expensive, period! Next you might have considered making the repair yourself, after all what can it take to unscrew an old part and replace it with a new one? As you already owned a screwdriver you probably got yourself excited by the prospect of saving yourself the money you might have given the garage. You were feeling like you were on a roll and shot round to the Toyota dealer again to collect the parts you needed. That would have been the second time in one day that you received a shock. New parts are expensive, no matter what manufacturer is selling them.

OK, so now you're thinking that you're not going to be able to drive for several weeks until you can save up enough to at least buy the new items your Toyota needs. Is that the way you want it to be? Of course it isn't, so what's the answer? Used Toyota parts found at salvage dealers. A local salvage dealer* will probably have dozens of parts for your make and model of Toyota. In addition you get what you need for less than half you would pay for the price of a new one, often even much less than that. It has to be said, Toyota used auto parts purchased from a salvage dealer makes plenty of sense if only because it can you a small fortune.

Many people will hesitate, because they're thinking that buying used Toyota parts is not as good as buying new. Well they're correct. However with used Toyota parts what you don't get with the guarantee you would have been supplied from the new parts bin at a Toyota dealer is already present. Toyota builds reliable cars, you know that yourself because you own one. The Toyota cars at a salvage dealer still retain the build quality for which Toyota is known, the difference is that many of them are there because their owners were unlucky and had an accident. The undamaged remains of these vehicles offer used Toyota parts which you can use to replace the items that need replacing on your own vehicle. It would be wrong to suggest that the used Toyota parts you acquire will last as long as if you had purchased new, if you're very lucky that might happen.

However, the Toyota used auto parts you do buy will put your own vehicle back on the road and that has to be better than passing it on your way to catch the bus everyday. In addition you can still smile to yourself over the fact that you didn't have to pay the garage.