How to Make A Vehicle Last 

On this snippet of From the Glovebox, Mike and Tony talk about how to make vehicles last. Today, you’ll hear about preventative maintenance, the highest mileage they’ve ever seen on a vehicle, and how to help your vehicle stay on the road. 

The Highest Mileage We’ve Seen on a Car 

Hey Mike and Tony how are you guys doing today? Listen I'm calling because I'm just curious what is the highest miles you've seen on a car? Because then I want to know what I can do to make my car last that long?

Thanks a lot. So hey, Mike and Tony Tatich back with you from the glove box independent shop owners in northern Indiana so our caller asked two questions what's the highest mileage that we've seen on a car and how do I make my car last that long? So Tony if you think about a car coming into our shops or other cars or even cars you've heard of the highest mileage that you've seen or you know remember on a car. 

Well I'm in the glove box I can't see the odometer from there all right you got a bill look around a corner you got Bill to see stuff so but yeah I think probably like a commercial used diesel truck is probably the highest that I've seen in the order 500,000-mile range.

Yeah.

I think yeah it means you know we've even seen stuff five six hundred thousand I mean I remember seeing a Malibu in one of our shops not too long ago that I think was about four hundred thousand on it I know one of our technicians has a Jeep with 390 on it yeah 390,000 miles on it still was the original engine out of Dan.

Why Vehicles Last Longer Now 

Yeah shout out to Mr. Dan but yeah I think a lot of these vehicles and I think if you if we peel that back even more back when we were first getting started in our shops most people didn't drive a car past a hundred thousand miles and they and they were rebuilding engines and stuff like that and putting transmissions and cars at 80 90 thousand miles or the car was rusting out quite a bit too so in the 38 years that we've been doing what we're doing you know that has changed quite a bit cars bodies are made better and they don't rust out engines are don't see frames rusting near as much as what we did a long time ago too so part of the reason is that most modern cars don't even have a full frame.

Well that's true so the unibody but that is true we don't not see the and the way they've made cars is just much much better so you know and I think the way a modern car is made and its safety and the lack of rusting and stuff like that they haven't accelerated in price as much as they've grown in in value and stuff so and I think shops like ours we probably we definitely service way more cars over a hundred thousand miles and under a hundred thousand miles oh yeah for sure. 

Using Preventative Maintenance To Make Your Vehicle Last

So but yeah I think you know I think there's if you want to maintain if you want to buy a car and maintain it you can get four or five hundred thousand miles out of a car pretty easily with proper maintenance. So which leads us to the second question. 

Tony you know our caller is asking how can I make my car last that long? Well if you've been listening to us much at all you have heard us talk a lot about maintenance through the time so I'm gonna talk maintenance in a different manner a lot of people a lot of these cars that I see that do have super high mileage on them and everything else. 

The people wash the car they go through an underbody spray car wash they go through and they clean the car they take well care of the car as far as its cleanliness and in outside type of stuff they wax the car they make sure it's detailed they make sure things like that are taken care of on the vehicle and I truly believe almost like a you know piece of clothing and that type of stuff a car that's well kept and well groomed is going to continue to last a long time and is going to continue to look good even though it's got high mileage on it.

That's it. That's a good analysis. I think it goes to the human side, you know. Somebody that exercises and eats right and does good nutrition stuff–the human body lasts a lot longer. 

I think that the car does too.

Should I Follow the Factory Vehicle Maintenance Guide?

I think I would throw in on the maintenance side is a lot of people will talk to you about following factory maintenance, but I want you to think about that owner's manual that's in your glove box. You know, right next to where we're at in the car. It was written a year or two before your car was probably even made. It was put together and cars get out after they get done with the warranty period, they get out to shops like ours, and we get to see all the different things happen.

So we get to realize oh that Chevy needs its transmission service a little bit more often because of you know how it's built and whatnot like you know those type of things. 

So here's here's my advice on that. Instead of just following the factory maintenance guide, follow some guidance from your service centers. Most of you out there know to change your oil every 3,000 5,000 7,500 whatever it is and stuff because it keeps the engine from blowing up. But I don't think a lot of people know about all the other things.

Fluid is Cheaper than Parts 

I can tell you too in cars that we have and loaner cars, even though they may be a 10,000 mile maintenance we still service them at 5,000 miles. And we use a saying, we say, “fluid is cheaper than parts,” so it's best to change some things a little more often to allow a car to have some longevity.

Any thoughts on that? Yeah I mean for sure that's all stuff that is necessary fluid is 100% cheaper than parts you know making a car last in this manner is you know hugely integral with how the cars built too so a lot of these cars people don't realize it that cars nowadays are built to go three four hundred thousand miles with proper maintenance remember to like Mike was saying with the with the owners manual that that owners manual can't be updated it was printed like he said one to two years before it was done there's no way that they can go in and give you an update last time I checked you never received an addendum to an owner's manual in the mail for them to come out and say hey we changed this we get that information is aftermarket automotive repair facilities dealers get that it's called technical service bolt ins so they give us updates that way to how the car should be maintained and how it should be taken care of and the fluid manufacturers give us updates and everything like that. 

So you could have a 2019 Toyota Camry and Toyota could have came out and said hey in 2021 we decided that we want this oil put in this car in order to update it that way so it's something that has to have to be done that way because they can't give you a new printed owners manual every time they want to change something yeah that's a that's a very valid point and I and I would wrap up this thing with that the call was really about maintaining your car and stuff and we can make these cars last a really long time with good proper maintenance tire rotations alignments fluid changes struts and chocks regular tune-ups fuel induction cleaning all those types of things will really help this.

Independent Shop Owners Can Help Keep Your Car Running 

But I want you to remember one thing–we are independent shop owners. Your independent shop like us has no care or desire to sell you a new car the big manufacturers respectfully want something to wear out so you come and buy a different car. 

Just like we have trends in fashion and trends in house decorating and stuff, they change all the time to be trendy. 

But they also change to sell you other new products whether it be a new couch new chair paint in your house. My wife just told me that we have a lot of grays in our house, and grays are out. You know? It's like, well, we just built it, so it's gonna be that way for a while, but again, independent shops like ours can make those cars last a lot and long time. We have no desire to try to sell you a new car if you like the way a new car looks like the way it smells like the way it drives and go buy one.

But if you want to make the car last a long time like this caller asked about four or five six hundred thousand miles is not out of the realm whatsoever anymore so a little bit from the glovebox about longevity and cars driving.
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