As you know, most people smile like these guys when they think about car maintenance…
Well, to make my car maintenance a lot easier I now do it all on two days during the year. I call it, (pause like Dr. Evil) Car Day. I pick a nice day in March and September and do all of my car maintenance on those days. And I actually look forward to it. Here is how:
- I started using synthetic oil that is far better for my engine, and more importantly, only needs to be changed once a year. It costs more than regular oil (about $100 for 10 quarts with 2 oil filters). But it saves me a lot of money each year. If I used regular oil, it would cost me about $25 X 4 times a year = $100 X 2 cars = $200. The cash saved is nice, but the joy of only changing the oil once a year is the best part.
- I rotate my tires on each Car Day, which is a very easy way to dramatically extend the life of your tires. I am jacking up the car to change the oil anyway, I might as well rotate the tires.
- I change my air filter, wipers, check the fluids, and add air to the tires as well on each Car Day.
- I also budget for it every 6 months, so the money is always available to spend.
Car Day has allowed me to save a lot of time by consolidating all these tasks into one big one. It also makes it easier to be consistent with the maintenance since it is less frequent.
As we all know, consistent maintenance of automobiles is such an important factor in the length and quality of life that your ride will have. If you do not maintain your car it will look like this…
However, if you start a Car Day like me your car will look like this…
It’s your choice. 
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This is an interesting idea. I’m not sure though about how you can only change your oil once (or even twice) a year. I’ve never heard anyone recommend that before. Plus we put so many miles on our car that we are constantly hitting the mileage for an oil change/tire rotation. Granted we would love to cut back on our mileage but that’s impossible if we want to keep working!
I do like the idea of doing other maintenance on a specific day in the spring and fall!
Great idea! My current car maintenance schedule is ad-hock at best. I always put it off thinking “I don’t have the time right now, I’ll do it later”. This approach would allow me to consolidate the tasks, save time and money. Three cheers for Car Day!
Most regular motor oils require you to change the oil every 3000-5000 miles or every 3 months. I use AMSOIL synthetic that has been tested and can actually go over a year between changes. The friend of mine who told me about it has used it in his cars that lasted 250k miles.
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