car maintenance

How To Handle Scheduled Car Maintenance

There are a lot of car owners that spend little or no time preparing a scheduled maintenance visit to their dealership and merely drive-in and agree to the recommendation of the service advisor, making it a costly error. You should get a daily scheduled quality car repair and maintenance in New Orleans to maintain the health of your car. Here are a few tips on how to handle scheduled car maintenance.

What is needed

The best way to learn how to maintain your car id is through the car’s service manual since it is written by the factory representatives who designed and built your car, standing as a reason to trust them since they know how to keep everything running smoothly.  

Another thing you could also consider is the role of the service adviser at your local dealership because they have certain knowledge about your car but the service advisor also gets a commission for all of the work that is done on your car so if they recommend a brake job, then a slice of payment would go to their pocket.

Another thing you have to consider is that the service advisor gets a commission for all the parts and services that he sells because the car manual may say something else and the service advisor may say something else but the service.

An Overview of Required Service

Certain mileage intervals are when car owners usually become aware of the need for routine maintenance and these intervals are described in the owner’s manual. Typically, changing your oil every 3,000 miles as recommended by the quick oil change chains and car dealerships happens more than twice as often as necessary so you have to look at the owner’s manual for proper schedule car maintenance intervals. 

Typically an oil change is required at a certain mileage point because some vehicle will have a reminder display indicating that it is in need of certain service. A computer in the car’s engine would make a calculation based on a number of factors that would accurately determine the time at which the oil world begins to break down.

New vehicles Under Warranty

Mechanical problems would be fixed under the bumper-to-bumper warranty for no charge if your car is less than three years old or has fewer than 36,000 miles (or whatever the terms of your warranty are). But this does not cover wear items like brake cable, and your car would still need routine maintenance. Routine maintenance is more than often only oil and filter changes, tire rotations, and various inspections to make sure that everything is right in place. Routine maintenance often becomes more involved and more expensive after the length of your warranty.

Scheduling a Service Visit

To find the actual work that is required at the appropriate mileage interval, you have to review your car’s manual and print this out along with the estimate of costs. You could email the service advisor for an appointment and get a quote for the work that you want to be done because this would give you a chance to review the charges and compare the quote with other dealerships and independent garages before you commit.

You could also call several dealerships, ask them for the service department and get more quotes, making sure that you get the advisor’s name for future references. You can call them back to set a time to bring in your car once you have decided who you are going to take your car to.

Can my car be serviced during lockdown?

This would generally depend on where you live and the protocol in your state but generally, any garage that can perform services, MOTs, and repair work is allowed to remain open to performing that work if it is considered to be essential and vital to the safety of you and the vehicle. The government advises that you have to do social distancing and hygiene, remain in a place, and be followed if you do take your vehicle in for essential maintenance.

When should maintenance be done on a car?

  1. Inspect and maintain tires
  2. Test the lights
  3. Change your engine air filter
  4. Replace windshield wipers
  5. Check the fluids
  6. Change the oil
  7. Review your car insurance
  8. Check belts and hoses
  9. Wash your car
  10. Have your brakes checked

There are a few things you have to consider during car maintenance like understanding the maintenance schedule in your car’s manual, don’t always assume that more frequent oil changes than indicated in your owner’s manual are beneficial for your car, and remember that the service advisor profits from work and parts that they would sell you.