There are folks who care about their engine maintenance and oil changes and there are people who don’t have the first clue or concern about their engine maintenance.
I have a problem with this second group and here’s why…
Years ago I decided to be debt free. It took about a decade to achieve but now myself and my family do not owe one penny to anyone… and yes the house is paid off too. I am relatively young to have achieved this and it did mean sacrifice when you compare me to my peers.
A key component of this strategy is to not buy a brand new car or truck. Automobiles are depreciating assets. There are somethings you buy that go up in value and others that go down. Cars go down in value and have expenses to boot.
My preference is to buy a car at about half of its new car price. At that point the steep loss of value has already occurred and the vehicle is still relatively new and enjoyable. The concern that comes with this is how well was the vehicle maintained? Was it a lease? Was it a rental? Did the oil get changed on a regular basis is my biggest question.
Sometimes you come across people that have the ethic that you take care of a vehicle properly whether you keep it or not because it is the right thing to do. The opposite end of the spectrum has folks with the mentality that they are trading it in anyway… no need for an oil change period “I’m not keeping it so who cares”.
Those second class of folks are where I get concerned about buying a used car. Yes I can just request the maintenance records but sometimes you come across a great deal of a ride and it doesn’t have the maintenance records… This is where you just wish everyone did the right thing and changed their motor oil when it was called for every time!
