The Importance of Regular Oil Changes and Maintenance

A car is typically one of our largest and most important purchases in life.  Cars are expensive and they are complicated.  They are used outside in all kinds of weather, including extreme hot and extreme cold.  And they can be subject to hard use, such as stop and go traffic.

There are many advantages of a regular maintenance program, and it all starts with regular oil changes.  The rule used to be to get the oil changed every 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever came first.  That is still a good rule of thumb, particularly with today’s stop and go urban traffic.

How long oil will remain effective depends on how the vehicle is driven, the engine’s condition and environmental conditions.  Vehicles that are driven in stop and go traffic need more frequent oil changes than vehicles that are mainly used for highway trips on un-crowded roads.  Vehicles that are frequently driven on unpaved country roads where there is a lot of dust need oil changes more often than vehicles that are mainly driven in clean air.  It all depends on how your vehicle is used.  The safe thing to do to protect your investment is to have the oil changed every 3,000 miles or 90 days.

The advantages of regular maintenance and oil changes include:

1. Maintenance should lengthen the useful life of the vehicle. Modern vehicles should remain useful for many, many miles if they are maintained regularly.  A vehicle with 150,000 miles that has been well taken care of can look close to new and have many, many miles of service left.  A vehicle with 20,000 miles where the oil has never been changed may be about to have an engine failure costing thousands of dollars.  A vehicle is just like your body – if you take care of it there is a good chance of long life; if you abuse it you may have problems too early in life.

2. Routine maintenance can enable early identification of potential problems. Many people have experience going to “quick change” oil change shops where the manager or technician suggests extra products and services as part of getting the routine oil change.  Two things are important here:
   • A technician checking a vehicle as part of an oil change can identify potential problems and help you save money from a catastrophic failure in the future.
   • This is often a profit center for the oil change shop and technicians are paid to find and suggest add-on products and services. It is difficult to know whether or not you really need them. Integrity Auto Finance customers are eligible for the best of both.  The technicians at Integrity Auto Service will look to identify any potential problems so they can be addressed preemptively.  But their purpose is to help you protect your investment and the collateral value of your vehicle; they are not paid or encouraged to recommend anything except what is considered absolutely necessary.

3. Maintenance should help you protect the value of your vehicle. When it comes time to trade your vehicle you will learn that its condition and appearance will have a dramatic effect on value.  The better the vehicle has been maintained and cared for the higher the value will be in almost every case.  The higher value is the equivalent of more cash down on the purchase of your next vehicle.  If the vehicle is well-maintained and in good running condition it can be worth thousands of dollars more on trade-in than if it hasn’t been cared for.  This additional trade-in value means you can either get a higher value vehicle or maybe lower payments on your next purchase, depending on how quickly you are trading.

Integrity Auto Finance customers are eligible for a $14.95 oil change program designed to make it easier and more affordable for customers to get regular oil changes.  We are committed to helping you protect the value of your investment, and at the same time, the value of the collateral securing your car note.