Say “Yes” To A Regular Auto Maintenance Schedule

Auto maintenance is a hot topic for us at Foreign Affairs Motorwerks. Cars are very much like people. You get all shapes and sizes, personalities, and cultures. However, as Shakespeare famously said, ‘If you prick us, will we not bleed?’ Just the same way we need to keep ourselves healthy (especially during this ongoing pandemic) so the health of your auto is also very important.

If you’ve been spoiled during the Japanese invasion of the 1970s into believing that a car doesn’t need maintenance, let’s take a look at five reasons why you might be wrong.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

This is especially true for your car. A good example of this is a cambelt or a timing chain. These are responsible for keeping the synchronization between the valves in the head and the pistons in the block. You can think of it a little like doing a line dance. If everyone keeps in step and time, nobody will end up bumping into each other. That is what a timing belt or chain ensures. However, if it snaps, everything goes out of whack, and hey, presto! Your engine just became a giant metal coffee grinder. Anyone for a double piston Frappuccino with extra valve dust?

Yea, your bank balance won’t be feeling too well after that one. Timing belts and chains have a specified service interval for a reason. Which is cheaper, the cost of an engine or the cost of a belt? You do the math.

Gas Mileage

A well-maintained auto spends less time at the gas station. Now, this is a really small saving, but as the saying goes, ‘save a match, buy a farm’. Every little bit helps. Also, there is this thing called global warming… Unfortunately, it does exist and wishing it didn’t isn’t going to make it go away, so we have to do whatever we can to reduce the effects of it.

Resale Value

Everyone likes a bargain, except of course if you’re the one selling your car. The used market has gone through the roof since COVID and now the chip shortage has reduced the number of new vehicles available. Now is probably the best time to cash in and sell your vehicle. One of the first things that dealerships or buyers like to look at is ‘service history.’ A vehicle with a complete service history will often fetch a premium over one with a patchy one. Basically, buyers want to be assured that once they’ve taken the hit of buying the title, they don’t have to take the fall for major repairs.

Save Time

Can you put a price on your time? Steve Jobs famously proved that if a Mac took 10 extra seconds to turn on each day, and 5 million people used one, over a year 300 million hours or 100 lifetimes went to waste. Time is precious. Don’t waste yours waiting for a time-consuming repair that you could have prevented by simple maintenance.

Increase Safety

Last, but by no means least, a maintained vehicle is far safer than one that has been neglected. Bear with us while we unpack this one.

Modern vehicles have sophisticated safety systems that integrate with the onboard computer. If a fault is detected, the airbag system or seat belt pre-tensioners may be disabled to ensure that they don’t deploy by mistake and cause a potentially hazardous situation. You can often tell this by the little orange ‘check engine light’ that comes on after the engine has started. What this means is that if you are in an accident the protection systems will fail to do their job and could lead to you getting severely hurt. Regular maintenance also assures that your tires are good and your brakes are working optimally.

The Best Auto Maintenance in Pompano Beach

Hopefully, by now we have made our case for the importance of a regular auto maintenance schedule. What about the cost? Despite the common misconception, a service plan need not break the bank. There are excellent third-party options for vehicles that are about to lose their warranty or factory service plan. Alternatively, you could open an interest-bearing savings account and simply save a small amount towards your vehicle maintenance.

Add more life to your car. Contact Foreign Affairs Motorwerks today at 954-746-0488 to schedule your next maintenance check-up.