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Is preventive maintenance really necessary?

Most of today’s vehicles are far more dependable and require less maintenance than their processors. Many people have adopted the “damage control” method of vehicle maintenance over the preventive approach. While it is true that most late model vehicles can survive deferring their maintenance needs for a surprisingly long time, there is a real false economy to this tactic. Read on for more.

Today, most people are spending and average of around $28,000 for a new vehicle. This represents, for most of us, our second largest investment after our homes. The average cost for license plates on these new vehicles is $700 not including your taxes which could be around $1900 on our target $28,000 vehicle. Add that to the fact that many people find themselves in the position of needing to replace that vehicle before it is paid off. How does that happen you ask? The simple answer is lack of maintenance.

The scheduled maintenance suggested by the manufacturer of your vehicle is the minimum needed to maintain your vehicle’s dependability. In fact for most of us here in Colorado there is a severe service schedule that we should be using. If you follow these guidelines at the mileage or time recommended you can expect your vehicle to outlast your payments on it. Members of the Colorado Select NAPA AutoCare Centers usually recommend taking preventive maintenance one step further so that your vehicle can last to 200,000 miles or more. There are many sound economic and personal reasons to consider their approach.

On the economic side, many of the additional services that we recommend will allow systems of your vehicle to last longer and perform better along the way while costing only a fraction of the cost of replacing the components when they fail early in life.

The personal reasons for performing preventive maintenance are in its very name, Preventive. When a vehicle breaks down it rarely chooses a convenient time or place. When you are proactive about maintenance you can decrease the chances of breakdown to single digit percentages instead of driving a ticking time bomb. Imagine driving home in rush hour traffic and having your vehicle stall in the left lane, or discovering that you are out of brake pads while returning from a trip to the mountains which destroys your brake calipers and rotors costing perhaps 4 times the cost of just routine brake maintenance. Cars and trucks can be repaired. They can be replaced. You and your family members cannot. Your vehicles are a big part of your budget their maintenance should not be the smallest part. Ask your friendly neighborhood Colorado Select NAPA AutoCare Center to perform a maintenance inspection for you today. You will come to be surprised how much more calm your life can be when your vehicles receive preventive maintenance over damage control.