OK, you asked for it. As expected, I got a lot of response
from last week feature from people who think that doing PROPER
Service on vehicles is a waste of money. To all of those people
and to any others who are thinking about sending me nasty e-mails,
I think you should consider a few qualifications first.
1. Have you ever owned one vehicle for longer than 20 years?
2. Have you owned a passenger vehicle that covered more than
300,000 miles? (With no major repairs.)
3. Have you ever compared the ACTUAL COSTS per mile/kilometer
to operate a vehicle?
4. Have you ever had to REDUCE maintenance costs on fleets of
50 vehicles or more?
5. Have you had the opportunity to deal with between twenty
and fifty vehicles PER DAY for 35 years so that you can see
the differences from one to another?
6. Have you ever spent hundreds of hours doing research on the
effects of lubricants on engines?
7. Have you ever spent hundreds of hours doing evaluations on
different lubricants?
8. Have you PERSONALLY owned more than 50 vehicles in your life?
9. Have you had the opportunity to test lubricants in actual
performance tests on dozens of different vehicles and engine
configurations?
If you can answer yes to all of the above, then I will SERIOUSLY
consider your opinion. In the mean time, I am expressing my
OWN opinion based on PROVEN test data. I have spent YEARS dealing
with the NEXT owner of vehicles that the previous owner felt
that the recommended servicing is not required. I have had to
try and explain to those NEW owners how anybody could not have
more of a conscience than to trade in a vehicle that they had
run into the condition that it was then. I have seen the results
of improper servicing and also had to repair the resulting damages.
I have also researched the opinion of many that it is cheaper
to just do the very basic of servicing and have proven that
those people receive far LESS money for their vehicles when
they are sold or traded. This same research has shown that these
same vehicles would be worth more than DOUBLE in value of what
the owner thought they were saving.
In short, servicing a vehicle PROPERLY, SAVES MONEY AND MAKES
MONEY.
If you really don't want to SAVE money on your vehicle operating
costs and really don't care how much you LOSE when you sell
or trade your vehicle, then do what you wish. But, I would suggest
that you hope the next owner is not is friend of yours, or a
customer of mine. I have had a perfect success rate when helping
someone sue the previous owner for selling a vehicle in sub-standard
condition.
Enough said!
Next week, lubricating fluids etc.
