Keeping your vehicle running and looking as good as new
- Never miss a service
Avoid missing any service for your vehicle, it is advisable to always take your vehicle to an approved and licenced dealer for servicing and maintenance as their work is guaranteed. And their parts are genuine.
If you service your car regularly it will last you for a long time as this will keep your engine healthy for a long time and any issues that may be starting will be quickly pointed out and fixed by maintenance technicians before they become big problems.
Servicing your car may be costly as it may come at a time far from your payday, if your car does not have a maintenance plan or a service plan it is advisable to get one as soon as possible. A service plan is cheap and can be paid at a date convenient to you preferably on your payday and when service time comes all you have to do is call and book your car in.
Most cars will require a service after 15 000KM others 20000KM, try not to exceed these mileages as driving after your car is due for service reduces the health of your vehicle.
Other drivers shorten these mileages to keep their cars even healthier and send their cars in for servicing in less than 15 000KM or 20 000KM, this is a good practice for those who can afford that many services.
Some service plans will only allow you to skip the service interval for about 1500KM if you go beyond that without sending your can in for service, they will require you to pay for the service, so it is important to send your car inn before you reach the service interval mileage.
During servicing they will inspect your vehicle and alert you of there are any problems in the battery, engine, air-conditioning, suspension, braking system etc. They will also change fluids like brake fluid, oil and filters etc. - Always keep it clean
Your car will always look new if it’s well taken care off, try to keep it clean as sand particles may leave scratches on the car when rubbed on by hands or anything, so wash your car with a lot of water to prevent such scratches.
Take your car inn for detailing at least once a year to keep it completely free of scratches and keep it looking as shiny as it just rolled off the assembly point.
Detailing is just an extreme car wash and polishing to completely eliminate minor scratches on your car.
Wax your car often to keep it shiny. - Do not drive your car at high speeds.
Avoid driving at high speeds unnecessarily as this beats the engine for no reason. This also leads to mistakes and crashes.
When driving at high speed you have too little time to react on the road if anything jumps in be it a goat or any animal in the road, and once you try to steer away from it you are most likely to be thrown off the road or roll your vehicle. - Do not rev your engine.
Avoid revving your engine because as you rev the engine works harder and harder while you aren’t going anywhere. You are wasting petrol and overheating the engine. - Check for the following every morning before driving.
Check the trye pressure daily at the morning if there is an underinflated tyre it is usually visible to the eye, so inspect your tyres.
Also check for the tyre thread because the smaller the depth the less grip the tyre will have on a slippery road.
You can also buy a tool to check the tyre thread to ensure that it is atleast 2mm. - Where to fix your car should there be issues with it?
If your car gets broken it is always a wise idea to seek a factory approved dealer or a repair shop to fix your car, most vehicle makes have those on their websites.
This might be costly but when getting your car repaired you need it to last, factory approved repair shops use genuine parts that will keep your car on the road for a long time. They also have standard machinery to inspect or disassemble the car should there be a need unlike other repair shops who will use a hammer for everything because they to not have proper tools and expertise.
Try by all means to avoid cheap parts on your car, at least get Bosch parts. Most dealers use Bosch parts anyway on your car. - Alignment and tyre pressure
If driving mostly on uneven roads or off-road it is important to take your car for wheel alignment every once in a while, to keep it going straight. When you release your steering wheel, the car should go straight not sideways. If it goes sideways you should take it to a tyre fitment centre for wheel alignment.
Do not over inflate or underinflate your tyres, overinflated tyres mostly will cause the car to bounce on humps making it hard to control. Underinflated tyres will drag your car down as you try to speed up.
