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I live in California and I have a rental house in Washington State. I claim the rental as income and have been paying taxes on it. Last year, I drove from California to Washington State to check on my rental (change smoke detectors and whatnot). On my way back, on I5 freeway in Oregon, my car blew the engine. All in all with shipping the car back home and engine replacement, it came out to $7000 worth of repairs to have my car running again.

Can I deduct that cost -- or any part of it -- from my taxes this year?

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Yes you can deduct part of that cost

if you don’t use the standard mileage rate, you may be able to deduct your actual car expenses. If you qualify to use both methods, you may want to figure your deduction both ways to see which gives you a larger deduction.

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    According to IRS Pub 463, even if you use the car for both business and personal use, you can deduct the "actual expenses" (including repairs) in proportion to the fraction of the annual miles that are for business. Of course, that may or may not be a higher number than mileage at the standard date.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Apr 18, 2017 at 4:08
  • That is true. I did not know that. I guess it depends on which one is a higher amount for OP. Will update answer. Thanks!
    – Michael
    Apr 18, 2017 at 4:21

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