How to Make Your Vehicle Last Longer in 7 Steps

It’s easy to justify some expenses.

Remote starters for cold Edmonton winters. Five showings of The Last Jedi. Guacamole on your burrito.

But preventable car repairs? Those are … infuriating. Especially when they’re the result of your own procrastination.

Although regular service appointments can seem expensive at the time, not taking care of your vehicle can end up costing you so much more down the road. So don’t put them off.

Here are seven life hacks that are guaranteed to help keep your vehicle roadworthy as long as possible. Which means more money for things that matter. Like guacamole.

Sweet, sweet guacamole.

#1 Regular Walkarounds

How to make your vehicle last longer in 7 easy steps

Every few months, take a couple of minutes to walk around your vehicle.

You want to watch for anything that looks out of place. For instance:

Are your tires wearing unevenly?
Are there any dents or scratches that seem relatively new?
Are any of your lights burnt out?

Pop the hood and make sure everything looks legit underneath. Check your hoses and give your brakes a quick once over. If something is wrong, it’s better to catch it early.

#2 Slow Down Over Train Tracks

This is an easy one.

Cruising over train tracks at high-speeds messes with your wheel alignment. Not only that, it can quicken the natural wear-and-tear on your tires.

Reducing your speed over train tracks will keep your tires around longer.

#3 Change Your Own Air Filter

Clean air filters ensure that you’re getting the best gas mileage possible. Best of all, you can do this one yourself. No seriously, it’s easy.

Just make sure you’ve got the right air filter on deck when you make the switch. Not sure which one to buy? Most owner’s manual have the specific type listed, as well as where to find the dirty one in your engine.

If you’re still unsure, bring your old one into any one of our Go Auto locations and we can get you the right one for the job!

#4 Don’t Ride the Clutch

This one’s for all the manual drivers out there still locking it down in their five-speeds.

When you leave your foot resting on the clutch pedal, you’re causing the friction disk to slip. This creates heat and wears the elements of the clutch down.

There’s no set rule about how long a clutch will last, but some experts say people that don’t ride the clutch can sometimes see a life expectancy of 160,000 kilometers.

#5 Wash Your Car

If you’re going to invest so much of your hard earned money into a vehicle, then why not make sure it looks as fresh as possible as often as possible?

Taking it to a self-wash station is usually the best solution because when you do it yourself, you can make sure you get all the hard-to-reach spots clean. Without regular cleaning, your vehicle will start to rust (it can happen as early as four years after you buy it).

Not only does rust look terrible, it can start to corrode underbody components (like your brake lines). And trust us, you do not want to shell out money for rust-related repairs.

#6 Keep Up with Regular Maintenance

The more your nurture your ride, the more it will love you right back. It’s always the drivers that keep to their regular maintenance schedule and drive their vehicle safely that have the longest lasting vehicles.

Your vehicle’s owner manual is your Bible! It tells you when you need to take your car for certain services, including routine oil and filter changes, tire rotations, timing belt replacements and more.

Trying to stretch the time between these services causes unnecessary wear on your engine.

Live in Edmonton? Schedule your service with Go Auto

#7 Stay Cool

This one is all about being proactive instead of reactive.

When the cooling system in your car fails, your engine will literally start to melt away. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how this would cause detrimental effects to your vehicle.

Make sure you (or a certified technician) monitors your cooling system. It’s easy to keep an eye on it, so just … do that.

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