Auto Service vs Auto Repair
Everyone has heard the saying “preventive maintenance is lest costly than repairs!” There are two ways to look at the cost associated with keeping’your vehicle on the road’in Escondido, serviced based or repair based. ‘At first glance the benefits of servicing your vehicle regularly may not be obvious and if you have not experienced a “repair” based ownership experience then you may be skeptical. Unfortunately most automotive service and repair decisions are based on price alone which in the moment may seem like the most economical decision but in the long run may be a much more expensive decision then you realize. Lets consider a few scenarios when it comes to auto service in Escondido.
1.’Factory Scheduled Maintenance
Factory scheduled maintenance is designed to provide a balance between ownership costs and reliability of your car, truck, or SUV. Factory scheduled maintenance is the vehicle manufacturers service plan. You may notice that there is not a lot of maintenance on the regular schedule during the first few years. There is a good reason behind this and it is purely marketing. The vehicle manufacturers want to advertise vehicles with a low cost of ownership in the first few years and the surest way of doing that is by ignoring all maintenance for as long as possible. Another reason for the lack of factory scheduled maintenance in the first few years of ownership is because most vehicle manufacturers are now selling vehicles with a full service plan included with the purchase until the vehicle is out of warranty. What better way to reduce the cost of something free than to not actually give anything away. Thats right, most included maintenance plans include an oil change service once every year if serviced’in accordance with the factory service intervals. Thats pretty sad considering a vehicle is normally your second largest investment and the manufacturer only recommends changing the oil and looking it over once per year. So we can see where the factory scheduled maintenance program falls way short of providing you with a safe and reliable vehicle.
2. Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is what the industry primarily practices. When you visit an auto service center the recommendations made by the Technicians and Service Advisors are from a preventive standpoint. They have you best interest in mind and want to prevent you from having safety or reliability issues with your car or truck. Your local mechanic is really helping you when they recommend that you service your vehicle regularly, and they don’t mean once per year! Most service centers will recommend a 3 month / 3ooo mile or 5 month / 5000 service interval based on your driving style and oil type required. The basis behind this is not to sell you more oil changes (no shop makes money on oil changes) rather its is to ensure that the condition of the vehicle is know and communicated to the driver on a regular basis so that you can PLAN for future services and repairs instead of waiting for a breakdown. Preventive maintenance allows you to address issues before the progress and cause more damage and result in larger repair bills.
3. Waiting until a breakdown
Believe it or not I know people who have said “im gonna drive it until it quits” and thats just what they did. They neglected all services and preventive maintenance on their car thinking that it is all marketing hype and all they need to do is change their oil once a year. Well guess when the car quits? On the interstate, in the middle of nowhere, on the way to an important event such as a job interview, with 5 passengers, oh, and sometimes in a not so gentle manner. Let me share one example: ‘A dear friend of mine was informed that they were due for a brake pad replacement soon because there was only 3mm of brake lining material remaining on the front brake pads. If the service was done in a preventive manner they would be able to reuse the brake discs at a substantial cost savings. If they let the pad wear completely out and grind on the brake disc then they would need to replace the pads and both discs at a minimum. Well, on an important work day on the way to work guess what happened. The brake pad lining wore through to the steel backing and the brakes began to grind violently. So, my dear friend pulled over into the emergency lane and frantically called for advice. It was recommended he have his vehicle towed for service. But it gets better, before the tow truck arrived he was greeted by a state trooper who felt the need to cite him for “unsafe equipment” to ensure that his stop was fulfilling. Now my dear friends brake pad replacement has just quadrupled in price due to the ticket, tow bill, and additional parts now required. That about covers the vehicle associated costs, but what about his time, I don’t know how much he earns per day but he missed work and nearly lost his job because he missed a critical day.
Examples like the one above occur every day and every auto service center has many stories that customers share with them. The one thing in common is that the auto service centers truly do not want to meet our customers like this.
Bottom Line:’Preventive maintenance service is lest costly than repairs, towing, missing a day of work, stress, and your personal safety.