Tip #5 Skipping scheduled maintenance

Performing proper, scheduled maintenance on your vehicle is one of the best ways to save money on repairs. Skipping maintenance can cost you a lot of money.  Let me offer some examples.

Tune Ups and Gasoline costs.  Driving your vehicle with worn spark plugs, a dirty air filter and other overdue maintenance items lowers your gas mileage. If you are an average driver, you are driving about 20,000 miles per year, perhaps getting 20 mpg.  An out of tune vehicle could reduce your gas mileage to 16 mpg, resulting in your using and extra 250 gallons of gasoline each year.  At $4.00 per gallon (and who knows where prices are going) that means you are wasting $1,000.00 each year.  Now a tune up costs a fraction of that (unless you drive a Mercedes) so you are throwing money down the drain by skipping scheduled maintenance.

Here is another example about tune ups - one that we see far too often.  When your vehicle needs a tune-up, it means that some of the cylinders (parts of the engine) are probably mis-firing. Misfires are much like taking a sledge hammer to the transmission and other parts of your drivetrain.  It does not take long until misfires damage the mechanical parts of the transmission, leading to the need for a premature repair that can cost thousands of dollars.  Misfires can also do damage to the engine - another repair that can cost many thousands of dollars.  Money saved by skipping maintenance is not a good decision when you are faced with expensive repairs as a result.

Transmission fluid service is yet another example. As this fluid heats and ages, it loses lubricating and cleaning properties. Low cost fluid service (as well as engine oil changes) can save you thousands of dollars in repairs.

Today's vehicles require far less maintenance than older vehicles, but they still require maintenance and attention.  The flip side is that new cars are far more expensive to repair because of their complexity.  Don't be "Penny wise and Pound foolish" by ignoring scheduled maintenance.

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