How to Establish a Routine Auto Maintenance Schedule
Establishing and maintaining a routine auto maintenance schedule is critical in ensuring the long-term performance and reliability of your vehicle. Your car is almost certainly one of the most expensive purchases that you will make in your life, and as such, you will want to maintain the condition of your investment.
Purchasing a vehicle can be expensive, and car maintenance can also cost you a lot of money, particularly as the car grows older and runs up more and more mileage. However, the most important thing to remember is that it is always cheaper to maintain than to repair. Following a routine maintenance schedule at Herb Gordon Subaru will ensure the performance of the car and can prevent expensive bills resulting from damage or failure caused by one or two faulty parts.
Know your vehicle's service needs
It can be difficult to know what to include in your maintenance schedule. The car manufacturer will always be able to provide details of the recommended scheduled maintenance. More often than not, a servicing or maintenance booklet will be provided when the vehicle is new, which will outline the intervals at which your car should be serviced. Maintaining this service history will help retain a greater percentage of the value of your car, should you wish to sell it later on, and will ensure that the car performs reliably over its life.
If you were not supplied with a maintenance booklet, or it's been lost, refer to the manufacturer’s website for those details. Helpfully, more and more manufacturers are setting up pages on their websites where they'll publish the recommended maintenance schedule for your model. Creating an account on these websites will often mean you'll be sent email reminders when any maintenance is due. If you are still unsure where to find the manufacturer’s recommendation, contact your local authorized dealer, as they should be able to help you.
How to establish a routine
In establishing a maintenance schedule for your car, you will need to balance a number of different factors. The manufacturer’s recommendations, for example, may be based on the basic requirements of the vehicle, but more frequent servicing may be required for high mileage drivers. Long-distance driving also puts different stress on your vehicle compared to driving about town, so you must carefully consider whether you think you need to increase the interval at which you undertake maintenance. Most recommendations are based around time (every six months) or mileage (every 10,000 miles).
Remember big ticket items
Your auto maintenance schedule will also need to include wear items, such as tires and brakes. These are not normally reviewed as part of an authorized service, but you can ask your dealer to check these items for you. Generally, car owners should undertake their own regular checks on these items, particularly before or after a long trip, or after a certain period of time has expired. According to the volume and nature of your driving, you should establish over time how frequently you need to replace wear items, and you should aim to include this within your car maintenance schedule.
Herb Gordon Subaru can help
Remembering all the details of a routine maintenance schedule can be a problem for busy car owners as they balance multiple priorities. This can be managed in a number of ways. Most authorized dealers and repair shops will, with your permission, contact you according to the recommended interval for a service. Alternatively, some conscientious car owners maintain calendars or spreadsheets with electronic reminders set up to notify them. This is a great way to maintain the details of both scheduled servicing and checks made on wear items.
A good maintenance schedule will protect the ongoing performance and condition of your car. This will ensure the safety of you and your passengers, and will ensure that you get the best possible price for your vehicle if you decide to sell it second-hand. If you are unsure about any of the requirements, contact Herb Gordon Subaru for advice.