WHAT IS PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE?
Preventive maintenance is just that—performing certain maintenance prior to component breakage or vehicle breakdown.
WHY SHOULD I HAVE IT PERFORMED?
To help prevent and reduce potential costly repairs and minimize breakdowns. Preventive maintenance combines common services and inspections so that you’re informed of your vehicle’s condition at the time of service. Knowing this, you are able to make an informed decision as to what is needed at the time or in the near future.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I HAVE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SERVICES PERFORMED?
Your owner’s manual outlines many services needed at various mileage intervals. At minimum, you should follow these recommendations. Please remember that this can vary based upon how you drive and in what conditions you operate your vehicle.
MY VEHICLE IS NEW AND STILL UNDER WARRANTY, DO I STILL NEED TO HAVE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PERFORMED?
Yes. Your vehicle owner’s manual lists a number of preventive maintenance services that need to be performed at certain mileage intervals in order to keep your new vehicle warranty in effect.
DO I HAVE TO VISIT A DEALERSHIP TO HAVE THIS WORK PERFORMED TO MAINTAIN MY NEW VEHICLE WARRANTY?
No. As the owner of the vehicle, you have the right to choose where you take your vehicle for maintenance and repairs. Just make sure the shop you use uses the appropriate parts and procedures. This will help you maintain your new vehicle warranty. Make sure they guarantee their work, and that you get a receipt.
WHEN MUST I TAKE MY VEHICLE BACK TO THE VEHICLE DEALERSHIP?
If you must take your vehicle back to your local vehicle dealer, usually due to the recall of a certain component on the vehicle, your authorized vehicle dealer is your only option to have the recalled component repaired at no charge with this notification. Otherwise, you can perform all other maintenance and non-warranty repair needs on all of the vehicles you own at one location, and if you are so inclined, you can even do it yourself. Remember to keep your receipts.
HOW WILL PERFORMING PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SAVE ME MONEY?
First of all, if you have a new vehicle, you’ll save your factory warranty. Should a warranty issue arise, using your maintenance checklist on the Women Auto Know member profile page, we can provide you with a complete maintenance history. This is important, as it will prove that you have maintained your vehicle during the warranty period so that your vehicle dealer can process your warranty claim. An example of how much you could save by having preventive maintenance performed can be well illustrated when you replace worn brake pads or shoes prior to failure. If you didn’t change your brake pads or shoes when recommended, then the pads or shoes would continue to wear and would therefore wear to the point that no “wearable” material would remain. This would mean that the metal on the brake pad or shoe would then touch the metal of your brake motor or drum. This would cause excessive noise, as well as extreme damage to these brake components, requiring them to be replaced. While the cost of these components obviously will vary depending on each vehicle and how it’s used, the reality is that many of these components cost more than replacing just the brake pads! So making sure that preventive maintenance is performed can save you quite a lot of money during the life of your vehicle ownership.
HOW WILL PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SAVE ME TIME?
We know you’re busy; we know that your time is valuable and that being without your vehicle for any amount of time is certainly not convenient. Doing preventive maintenance services combine a number of single services into one process. This actually reduces the number of visits to the shop. Additionally, it is preventive maintenance and services using an inspection process of components that are prone to wear. Together you can help your shop maintain your vehicle so that it serves you reliably for many years. Statistics prove that a well-maintained vehicle is less likely to have an unexpected breakdown.
CAN I BRING ALL MY VEHICLES TO ONE LOCATION FOR SERVICE?
Absolutely. Preventive maintenance services are designed to work on all vehicles and not just one or two vehicle manufacturers. Why? The answer is simple: more than likely, your family owns more than one brand of vehicle. It would just be too much of an inconvenience for you to take one brand of vehicle to one repair facility and your other vehicle to another for service. Most of the preventive maintenance services are similar with the majority of vehicle manufacturers today. So allowing one shop to perform preventive maintenance on all of your vehicles makes sense; you’re building a relationship, and caring for your vehicle is about service not sales. Of course, there are some additional services that some specific vehicle manufacturers require to be performed at certain mileage intervals. When you cross that bridge, talk about it with your shop and see what steps are necessary.
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