Three Tips to Maximize the Life of Your Car

So much money goes into your car that you want it to last as long as possible. These three tips will keep your car running so you can spend less on maintenance, new cars and higher insurance premiums.

Keep up With Maintenance

First and foremost, follow the maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual. You already know that you need to stay on top of oil changes and fluid maintenance, but many car owners forget about fuel filters, radiator flushes, timing belts and transmission flushes. While this feels like a lot of maintenance to track, none of the items on the list need service as frequently as the oil filter, so it really isn’t that much. Timing belts, for instance, usually only need to be changed once over the life of a car. That makes it easy to forget, so review the maintenance schedule every now and then if you really want your car to last.

Improve Your Driving

All of those tips you’ve heard about defensive driving will help you avoid accidents, keeping you safe and saving you money. You might not realize it, but those techniques also prolong the life of your car. Aggressive and fast driving create substantially more wear on a vehicle, so if you want the most mileage before you have to see a dealer, slow down and drive carefully. In general, the lower you can keep your average RPMs the better your engine will do. Additionally, if you have a manual transmission, smoother shifting is sure to minimize engine and transmission stress.

Master the Elements

Nature is not kind to you vehicle, and there are two major elements that will harm it the most: sun and snow. Excessive exposure to sunlight will rot exposed rubber, fade paint and generally make life difficult. The obvious solution is to park in the shade as much as possible, but if you can’t, stay on top of rotating your tires and replacing rubber hoses and parts in the engine. Snow and ice are hard on the car, but the real danger comes from salt. If you live in a region where roads are regularly salted, the key to protecting your car is to wash it. Obviously you have to strategize around the cold, so your best bet is a car wash that does not recycle water. Wash your car regularly during the snowy months and the salt damage will be kept at bay.

You can further protect your car with good insurance coverage. Check out Neff & Associates Insurance Services Inc to see how you can get better protection for less money.