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Page 2 of 23 As a technician I see too many cars that are poorly maintained. It seems as though people don’t have the time or money for proper maintenance but can some how afford the tow bill and extra expense of a breakdown. This makes no sense to me. Has no one has heard the saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? Cars require a lot of maintenance for sure, but with cost of new cars, how can we not take care of the car we have? I know I sure can’t afford a new car every couple years. And with gas prices as they are how can you justify driving a car that’s getting poor gas mileage just because its over due for a tune up?
Maybe it is a lack of understanding your cars needs. Your car may not have feelings, but it sure does have needs. Such as oil changes, tune ups, transmission fluid changes, tire rotations, wheel alignments, timing belt replacements, coolant flushes and the list goes on and on.
When was the last time you have read your car owner’s manual? Or have you ever read the owners manual at all? Just last week I had a gentleman bring his car to the shop with over 120,000 miles on it. During our conversation I learned that the timing belt on his car had never been replaced. The recommended replacement interval for his car is 60,000 miles as noted in the owner’s manual. He was totally unaware that the timing belt should have been replaced at all. I was absolutely amazed that the belt hadn’t failed yet. Just goes to show how durable cars can be. If that timing belt had failed the cost of repair would have been in the thousands of dollars, instead of the hundreds of dollars it cost to replace as normal maintenance.
The next item I would like to rant about is warranties. It seems as though people buy an extended warranty thinking that it will cover anything that there car needs. Unfortunately this is not true. Routine maintenance is not covered by the warranty. Warranties are intended to cover major failures of parts not considered wear items. Wear items consist of anything listed in the owner’s manual as routine maintenance and also include such things as brake pads, brake rotors & tires. Emission control devices are usually not covered by extended warranties.
Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t have anything against warranties. I do a fair amount of warranty work. I just seem to always be the bearer of bad news when someone comes in for a repair thinking that it would be covered by the warranty only to find out that part is not covered. Always remember what the large print gives, the small print can take away, so read your warranty contract carefully.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I just wanted to get this of my chest.
If you have any comments or questions you can e mail me at:
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or send a letter to 753 Brattleboro Rd Hinsdale NH 03451
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