Over the last few instalments, we’ve written a bit about what preventative maintenance is and why it can be important to help maintain your car.
Though preventative maintenance is an important part of keeping your vehicle running, today we wanted to take a look one of our experiences with customers who have done too much and actually caused extra issues.
Our first example involves a customer that one of our dealt with in his early days as an apprentice, though we’ve changed the customer’s name to Mrs. Smith for this story.
Mrs. Smith was a lovely older lady who had purchased a Volvo XC90 brand new only a number of years before. This car was obviously her pride and joy and she took specific care to wash the regularly, sometimes as much as every 3-4 days.
This only became an issue after a few years of owning the car when, due to the water used when washing the car, pieces of the suspension began to rust very quickly. This was a devastating outcome for someone who so obviously cared about her vehicle and was luckily able to be sorted.
It is not common for people who care about their car to perform regular preventative maintenance either. Many customers we have found will do their services more than twice or three times as often as their logbook suggests.
While this may be a good strategy in an older vehicle with a high number of kilometres, on many of these cars, there is no premature signs of wear, causing much of the money spent on oil to be meaningless.
This is not only bad for your back pocket, but also bad for the environment, as used oil is difficult to dispose of properly.
Our recommendation is that, if you trust your mechanic, listen to their advice about how often your vehicle needs servicing.