How to Save Money Fixing Your Car’s Air Conditioning Vents

Here’s a stat – the average car on the road today in the US is almost twelve years old. Many of the original equipment parts in older cars like power window switches, interior lights, coolant tanks, turn signal bulbs and 1000’s of other parts simply wear out and stop working with age. Unfortunately, many dealerships and specialty repair shops don’t offer the replacement part you actually need, instead they will try to sell you a complete repair kit or an expensive repair service with lots of labor.

One of these repairs that is very common is for the air conditioning vents built into your dash-board: the vents are made from  plastic and simply wear out and crack, fade and break. The typical dealer or repair shop will offer to replace the entire vent assembly (removing it from the dash and replacing it) for $250-400 per vent, including labor. Unfortunately, many are forced to pay-up to keep fresh air flowing in their vehicle.

An affordable alternative to that expensive repair solution is to replace just the vent tab (sometimes called vent clip, vent knob , vent slider ). The vent tab is the plastic part with an embedded chrome strip, which you use to direct the air flow. It connects to the louvers and allows you to re-establish control of the air flow direction. This approach is significantly less expensive, typically under $20 per vent and can be done by the owner to avoid huge labor expenses. Vent Tabs are available on most automotive e-commerce platforms like CarID.com and large marketplaces like Amazon.com, Walmart.com and eBayMotors.com and even specialty retailers like Etsy.com. Depending on the brand you purchase, you may or may not need tools to install the vent tab - so check the installation instructions before buying and hopefully the brand provides a video or link to Youtube installation video. You can do this project and save yourself hundreds of dollars (and apply the savings to our stubbornly high gas prices currently in the US-sorry for the reminder folks)

We’re moving into air conditioning drive season in US and Canada, so don’t put up with stagnant air conditioning. One brand that offers a wide catalog of vent tabs , is actually the category originator VentTabs ( www.venttabs.com) and can be found on most large e-commerce stores mentioned above. They’ve been in business 6 years and have saved over 50,000 users millions in unnecessary dealership air vent repairs costs. Don’t wait, get it handled and enjoy the road ahead.