When New Mexico Roads Damage Your Car

Unfortunately, the recent state budget crisis means that New Mexicans will once again have to endure another year of poor roads.  For people like Nancy, that means hundreds of dollars of damage to their vehicles.  “I’ve lived here for less than 10 months, but my windshield has been damaged three times already.”  Other people have problems with their tire alignment after hitting the gaping crevices in our streets, while others have trucks covered in dents from the flying gravel kicked up by other vehicles.

Image by silas216 via Flickr

Since efforts to get the government to fix the roads have failed, the only thing a New Mexico resident can do is learn how to fix their car cheaply.  Consider the following suggestions if you are looking for a way to lower the damage to your pocketbook.

Buy good insurance.  Often, items like windshield chips or dents in a vehicle’s body are covered at no cost to the insured by more expensive policies.  Of course, having comprehensive coverage is required, but these policies will pay for themselves in the long run.  “I have a policy through USAA, and the chips in my windshield are covered without me having to pay my deductible,” said Nancy.  Although Nancy’s policy costs her about $200 more a year than other insurance, it is worth it because each windshield chip would cost her $49 to repair (based on information provided by GlassDoctor of Clovis, NM).  Since Nancy’s windshield has to be repaired more than four times a year, paying extra for this insurance makes sense.

Drive slowly.  In a lot of places, especially after an ice storm, the roads have so many potholes that they should be treated as gravel roads.  Since many of these roads have high speed limits, however, you can count on other drivers going too fast and kicking up gravel onto your car. 

Know what to wait on, and what to fix immediately.  Any kind of chip or crack in a windshield can spread or “spider” due to temperature changes or by hitting a large bump on a road.  For this reason, take care of glass problems as soon as you can.  Damages to the paint or body structure of your car will not get worse over time, but repeated damage can affect your car’s safety during an accident.  Additionally, damage to the paint can allow for rust to start, causing irreparable to your car’s body.  Look in local car supply stores for paint fix kits (usually less than $20) to address paint issues before they damage the rest of your vehicle.  Then, look for deals at local auto-body repair shops to fix the other damage to your car.