When you own a vehicle, proper maintenance is absolutely critical. The good news is that automotive manufacturers work hard to make it easy for you to maintain your vehicle by including a log book that specifies when certain maintenance services should be completed. In addition to helping you keep your car properly maintained, following the schedule in your log book can help reveal important information about your car that you can use to keep it running smoothly.
Reveal Any Pressing Issues
Any time that you have your vehicle in for maintenance, a good mechanic will also perform a thorough inspection. In some cases, this inspection can reveal pressing issues that need to be taken care of immediately. For example, if you have loose lug nuts on one of your tires, the maintenance inspection will reveal this problem before your wheel has a chance to come off of your car. Other pressing issues, such as large rust patches, loose brake lines, and other major problems, can also be revealed during a good inspection.
Reveal Truth of Past Ownership
If you have recently purchased a used car, log book servicing can be a great ally in determining if you got a good value for your money. That’s because the inspection will show if your vehicle has appropriate wear and tear for its age and mileage. If you find that the oil is dirty or the brakes are almost bare, for example, you’ll know that the previous owners probably didn’t take very good care of the vehicle. This means that you’ll need to be especially vigilant to ensure no major problems occur with your vehicle.
Reveal Necessary Changes
Another important piece of information that you can learn during log book servicing is if you need to make any changes to your driving habits. For example, if the inspection shows that your vehicle’s tires are wearing out faster than they should, you will know that you may need to accelerate and brake more slowly when you can. The maintenance inspection can also reveal chronic issues that may indicate that it’s time to replace your vehicle instead of continuing to repair it.
Reveal Potential Savings
Although a log book does a great job of recommending maintenance intervals, these intervals are just that – a suggestion. During your inspection, the mechanic may notice that your vehicle is only receiving minimal wear and tear, meaning that you may be able to stretch out your service intervals to a certain extent. This can help you save money that you can put toward eventually replacing your vehicle.
If you keep up with your log book maintenance, it is important to keep your log book to present to a future buyer. A complete log book will be a powerful tool to get buyers to pay the price you want for your vehicle since buyers can know without a doubt that you have taken care of your vehicle while you owned it. Thus, it’s important to keep your log book updated, even for maintenance items that seem unimportant.