4 Reasons to Keep Up Your Car Maintenance
If you have a car, you almost certainly depend on it heavily. It needs to take you to work and back, and safely transport the kids to school. It has to be ready to take you places in an emergency and transport you safely through heavy rain and other bad weather. Since we depend so much on our cars, it’s surprising to find that surveys show 77% of the cars on America’s roads need maintenance or repairs. A lot of us just skip regular maintenance to save money or because we can’t be bothered. Read on for four reasons you need to do wiper replacement and oil changes, keeping up the service schedule on your car:
It’s a Matter of Safety
You might not hear about them much, but every year there are thousands of accidents in America that were a direct result of cars not being kept up. Whether it was avoiding wiper replacement so that streaks compromised the driver’s view, worn out tire treads that couldn’t hold a turn in the rain, or power steering that failed because of lack of fluid, these kinds of accidents are avoidable. Keep yourself and your family safe by keeping up with scheduled maintenance.
Pop Up Your Resale Value
Maybe you’re planning to run your car into the ground and sell it for parts. Fine. But most of us will probably end up wanting to sell our cars at some point. When we’re thinking about our own car, we can get sloppy about maintenance schedules, which is why a recent car survey found that 16% of cars were driving around without the right coolant levels or protection, and 18% had contaminated brake fluid. But once we go to buy a car, we care deeply about the service history. If you get maintenance and repairs and can back them up with receipts, you can command the highest resell price for your car.
Lower Your Overall Costs
Ok, here’s where you’re probably crying foul. How can spending money constantly to get an oil change, brake service, wiper replacement, and other auto service possibly save money? The answer is that keeping up with the maintenance schedule goes a very, very long way towards protecting you from a major malfunction. Maintenance is relatively cheap to keep up. A big breakdown can cost you many thousands in repair and loss of the use of the car, not to mention the stress of dealing with large problems.
Keep Your Vehicle Dependable
One of the best ways to keep your car working for you at the highest level is to keep up with scheduled maintenance. Take care of your car, and it will take care of you. When all the internal fluids are at the right level and of the right kind, it protects the engine and reduces wear and tear.
When you see that service icon light up in the dashboard; when the wipers start streaking and you need wiper replacement; when the schedule lets you know that it’s time to change the oil filter, don’t wait. Get your vehicle taken care of on time and in the right way, and it will thank you with years of dependable service.
