I Hate When That Happens

There has been an old adage in the car repair world for many years, it goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, these days that saying is getting less and less relevant. Today’s vehicles last so much longer. Years ago when a vehicle had 100,000 miles on it, many people thought that it was ready for the scrap yard. These days, we consider that mileage as low. My son is driving around a vehicle with close to 300,000 miles on it. I drove it the other day, and you know, it still drives great. The power windows, locks’ and mirrors still all work, it starts, runs and shifts perfectly. He said that the car still gets about 22 mpg. Not bad for a 15 year old vehicle. We did not buy it new, but got it when it had about 150,000 miles on it and each of my 3 son’s have driven it. It has never broken down (except for a flat tire) but we have done our duty and maintained the vehicle. We basically have followed the manufacture recommended service schedule. If we saw a need during the regular oil change, we did it. So anyway, we did not wait for it to break before we fixed it, we maintained it. This is the same rationality that our doctors and health community keeps preaching at us, regarding our own bodies. Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep and maintain healthy relationships and you will feel better, have lower blood pressure etc, and ultimately will live longer. If we waited with our own bodies until we “broke down” ,that would not be very wise, and it certainly would be much more expensive.

The same is true with our vehicles. If we never changed our oil, or serviced our transmissions, or checked our tires, they would last for a while, but we certainly would not get the life out of these items and ultimately that would cost us more money for a major repair and certainly would be a hassle for us when it broke down. I know I am probably as guilty as many when it comes to taking care of stuff. Life is just so busy. There is always something to do, or somewhere to be. My doctor tells me every time I see him that I need to be at the gym 2-3 per week and watch my fat intake. I know what is best for me but it seems time just slips away. I know this happens with my car as well. I recently looked at my oil change sticker and I was a 1,000 miles over. (That is one of the reasons I use synthetic oil) So I needed to make an appointment-even at my own shop-and get it taken care of. Of course when we serviced it, we found it also needed some overdue maintenance. So we carved out some time and got it done. This car has only 174,000 miles on it, so of course I feel it’s like new and it still performs as good as the day we got it.

We are seeing more and more people with over 200,000 miles on there vehicles and they are still are very nice cars and trucks. Of course they have taken care of them. We also see vehicles that have been neglected, even though we make recommendation to help people get the maximum life out of there vehicle. It is still up to the individual. Of course they may think that they are saving money or somehow cheating the system, but it will catch up with them. It’s like eating fast food or cheap frozen pizzas. They may be less expensive than healthier fruits and vegetables, or eating leaner meat or fish. But they will get you in the end. I Hate When That Happens!