Car dealers are enjoying robust sales in
2016. Yet, the average age of a vehicle around the world continues to increase,
and today’s car buyers are extending loan terms beyond 72 months in record
numbers.
Evidence also shows that people are keeping
their cars longer than ever, and with loans up to 84 months long becoming a
“new normal,” millions of people won’t have any choice but to drive whatever
they’re buying today for most of the decade ahead. Taken together, the aging
vehicle population and extended new-car loan terms mean it is more important
than ever to take the best possible care of your vehicle in order to increase
your car’s life. There are 10 easy ways to prolong your car’s life.
1. Service your car by the book
Pop open your glove box, and chances are
you’ll find a little book in there called an owner’s manual. Take a look at it.
It will tell you exactly what the people who designed, engineered, and built
your vehicle recommend as far as making it last for as long as possible. Then,
follow the advice. And if you can’t afford to follow the advice, perhaps you
spent too much on the car.
2. Check and change the oil
What would happen to you if your blood
leaked out? The same thing happens to your car if you don’t maintain proper oil
levels. Oil is the lubricant that keeps all of the mechanical parts inside of
your engine working smoothly, and when it gets low, added friction contributes
to a car’s early demise.
Beyond that, and unlike the blood flowing
through most people, your car’s oil needs to be changed on a regular basis, and
the interval is dependent on how you typically drive your car. Look inside your
owner’s manual. It will tell you how often you need to change the oil.
3. Maintain proper fluid levels
Oil is not the only fluid that your vehicle
requires to enjoy a long and healthy life. It is also dependent on brake fluid,
transmission fluid, power steering fluid, and a mixture of water and coolant to
reduce heat. Depending on what kind of car you have, you’ll need to check these
fluids regularly, and change them occasionally.
Again, look inside of your owner’s manual
for complete details that are specific to the vehicle you own, and how you
drive it.
4. Keep tires inflated, and rotate them regularly
Tires play an important role in keeping you
and your passengers safe, and in maximizing your fuel economy. Therefore, it is
critical to take good care of them, and to replace them when necessary.
All tires leak air, and that means you need
to regularly check your tire pressure, especially if your car doesn’t have a
tire pressure monitoring system that automatically does it for you. If you need
to add air to a tire, do it when the tire is cold, and not after you’ve heated
it up by driving on it for a significant distance.
Rotating the tires helps to extend the life
of your tires. That doesn’t mean you should spin them. You need to move them
from the front to the back, or from side to side, depending on the vehicle that
you own.
Also, if you feel the car pulling to one
side or another when you’re trying to drive straight down the road, you’ll need
to fix your alignment before abnormal and excessive wear forces you to buy new
tires.
5. Fix the little problems, before they
turn into big problems
Fixing a car’s alignment is an example of
taking care of a little problem before it turns into a big problem. If a car
owner ignores an alignment problem for long, he or she ultimately adds hundreds
of dollars to the repair bill once the problem can no longer be ignored. This
same logic can be applied to numerous little problems that will, ultimately,
require attention and money.
6. Clean and care for the car
If you wash your car and clean the interior
on a regular basis, the finish and materials will last longer, and you’ll be
happier with your vehicle for a longer period of time. Also, if you can, park
in a garage or in a covered parking area to keep the car out of the sun, rain,
snow, and, in coastal areas, sea spray.
While you’re at it, clean out the trunk.
The more weight you’re lugging around, the more gasoline your car will consume.
7. Run errands at one time
Cars operate at their best when the engine
is warmed up. That’s why making lots of short trips will add extra, and
unnecessary, wear-and-tear on your vehicle. If you can, try to run all of your
errands at one time in order to avoid frequent trips on a cold engine.
8. Don’t drive aggressively
People who accelerate quickly, stop at the
last minute, take corners with squealing tires, and generally drive in an
aggressive fashion cause greater wear-and-tear on their vehicles, ultimately
resulting in bigger and more frequent maintenance and repair bills.
9. Buy a car with a great warranty
With this advice, we’re not advocating one
brand over another, but common sense dictates that if any required repairs to a
vehicle are going to go on somebody else’s credit card, that sense of financial
freedom sure makes it easier to hang on to a set of wheels for a longer period
of time.
10. Do engine carbon cleaning
As mentioned above, remove the carbon from
auto engine is necessarily for car maintenance. As we all know, after running
1-2 years (about20000 kilometers), the automobile engine will have performance
degradation in different levels: economic performance degradation, fuel
consumption increasing; starting is not smooth, especially in cold start; excessive
exhaust emission; noise increasing; the engine oil turns black fast or even
slightly burned. With accumulated of auto carbon deposit, the car is rapidly
aging. The most effective way is doing regular engine carbon cleaning and the
most advanced way is using HHO Carbon Clean Machine.
