Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Do You Keep Maintenance Records?

I went for an oil change last week and learned that my car requires additional repairs estimated to cost more than $1000. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was wigging out about the egregious amount of money I'd have to divert [from my car payment] in order to ensure I have a reliable ride. Actually, that was November 2010 when I paid  for the "check engine light" issue to go away and May 2010 that I paid for the rotor replacement (hundreds of bucks). 

If you guessed that I'd be talking about this again, your guess would be half right. Lately, I've been thinking about all of the work that I'm getting done to my vehicle. Frankly, I haven't been keeping an organized record of all services performed. Fortunately, however, I've been going to the same mechanic (at least since I've moved to this area), so they have a pretty good record of my oil changes, fluid flushes, and major repairs and whatnot. I've read a little bit here and a little bit there about the benefits of recording your vehicle's service history, the gist of the advice being that you'd be able to negotiate a higher selling price when you sell the car. I guess a record screams "LOOK AT ME!!! I'VE BEEN CARED FOR!!!"

Perhaps I'll get around to keeping a service record for my car. But I wonder, what's truly valuable to keep record of? Oil changes? Sure. Tire rotations? You bet! Car washes? Maybe not so much. 

I'll keep poking around to see what information is recommended to be part of such a record and will look to the comments in my budget for insight about the specific services I paid for. I'll keep you posted :)

Do you maintain a service record for your vehicle? 
If so, what information do you include?

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