If you're not planning to postpone purchasing a new car considering the surge in used car prices as of 2021, you might want to look for how to keep a high mileage car on the road. Luckily, experts put together a list of tips and tricks to help you maintain your high mileage vehicle for close to 200,000 miles, if not more! Here's all you need to do:
1. Never skip an oil change
2. Monitor fluid levels
3. Perform annual inspections
4. Keep an eye on any small problem
5. Avoid aggressive driving
6. Maintain a clean car
7. Choose the right cleaning material
8. Aim for longer trips
According to the Bureau of transportation statistics, vehicles used to last up to 8 years only in 1995. However, this lifespan increased significantly to reach 11 years as of 2016. Experts expect drivers to keep their cars much longer than they used to with modern technology and highly innovative maintenance.
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In the past, as the vehicle approached 100,000 miles, drivers immediately started thinking of purchasing a new car if the vehicle reached the end of its lifetime. Luckily, experts expect better trends nowadays with advanced technologies and indicate that it's easy for cars to reach 200,000 miles without significant issues if certain tips and tricks were implemented.
This article walks you through a list of tips and tricks to help you answer the question, “how to keep high mileage cars on the road?” It also provides you with some explanation about why it's not the best time now to purchase a used or brand-new car. Finally, the article highlights when you should give up on your high mileage vehicle.
Why should I learn about how to keep high mileage cars on the road in 2021?
Before we provide you the list of tips and tricks on “how to keep a high mileage car on the road?” You must understand the main reasons behind postponing purchasing any used or brand-new car and keeping your high mileage car in the first place.
If you are not already aware, there is currently what's known as the “global chip shortage,” which refers to the shortage of microchips needed for producing vehicles and some other important components in our daily lives. With a shortage of these chips, automotive experts and manufacturers are delaying and postponing the amount of production, making it extremely expensive to shop for brand new or used vehicles nowadays in 2021 and probably over the next two years approaching 2023.
With that in mind, many drivers are now looking to learn how to keep their high mileage cars on the road and prevent paying extra thousands of dollars to purchase a new vehicle. As a result, there is a very high demand in learning about doing scheduled maintenance and maintaining the vehicle by eliminating some of the common driving mistakes that could shorten the lifetime of the vehicles.
How to keep high mileage cars on the road in 2021?
It is important for you as a driver to try your best to keep your current car if it's serving you. In other words, if your vehicle does not have major problems that require continuous visits to the repair shop, you might want to keep it and implement some extra tips and tricks that could help you extend the lifetime of this high mileage car.
1. Never skip an oil change
In any vehicle equipped with a combustion system, oil is needed to lubricate the internal engine components and prevent engine overheating due to friction. However, overtime reviews, this oil is expected to collect a lot of debris and contaminants, making it lose its main characteristic that help cool down the entrance.
Therefore, you'll notice that your vehicle owner’s manual has a specific time frame for changing your vehicle's oil. Of course, this time frame depends heavily on the type of oil you are choosing. For example, if you're using Synthetic oil, you don't have to change it as often compared to regular conventional oil.
By skipping the oil change, you're encouraging engine overheating, which results in significant engine damages. After hitting the 100,000 miles, even the synthetic oil might not be good enough, and you might want to choose a certain type of oil suitable for high mileage vehicles.
While skipping oil changes hurts any vehicle, the negative consequences can be more complicated if you're driving a high-mileage car. Therefore, there might be if you were able to skip an oil change for a couple of days when your vehicle was new, now it's not the time to do so.
2. Monitor fluid levels
Most major mechanical problems are typically associated with drops in important fluids. For example, if your vehicle doesn't have the right amount of oil, there is a very high chance that your engine will get completely damaged in no time due to overheating.
Similarly, if there is insufficient coolant in the cooling system, engine overheating can become a major problem, and catastrophic results are not too far. Running with low brake fluids and steering system fluid is never a good idea. It can immediately lead to two problems related to your vehicle's performance and your safety.
Therefore, keep an eye on the fluid levels and try inspecting them more frequently than before. Consult with your mechanic to know how often you should now check on the fluid levels and what fluids need further and more care than others. Obviously, every field needs to be maintained at the right level. Still, there are some fluids that your vehicle might experience significant damages once they drop, like those related to low oil levels.
3. Perform annual inspections
When your vehicle is relatively new, you're not going to worry about significant problems that might occur on a year-by-year basis. However, once the car hits 100,000 miles, it's not rare to deal with some problems related to the water pumps, the belts, the brake calipers, the mufflers, etc.
Therefore, building a habit of manual inspection is a great idea if you're looking to keep a high mileage car on the road for extended times. Depending on your vehicle type and what you realize as you're driving it every day, you might even want to visit the mechanic shop much more often than annually.
4. Keep an eye on any small problem
Detecting car problems early helps you save the vehicle and prevents significantly high repair costs. Therefore, you must keep an eye out for any sign of minor problem because these problems can immediately evolve and become significant damages.
For example, if you notice any weird noises or smells coming from your vehicle, you must take the issue seriously and consult your mechanic immediately. While these noises and smells might be linked to a minor problem, they can also be a significant issue. Either way, ignoring the problem guarantees to cause significant issues requiring thousands of dollars on repair costs.
5. Avoid aggressive driving
Many driving habits can immediately shorten the lifetime of your car if it's not a high-mileage vehicle. But imagine if you implement the same habits on a high mileage car. What will happen?
For example, if you used to rely on rapid acceleration and acceleration, it's probably not the best time to do it now, and you should be gentler with your vehicle to keep it for a longer time. Also, avoid riding the clutch if you're driving a car with a manual transmission to prevent damaging it and shortening the lifetime of your vehicle.
6. Maintain a clean car
Cleaning the vehicle is a normal practice that most driver maintains. However, you might want to take it to the next level and keep cleaning your vehicle on the top of your To-Do List daily.
According to experts at allstate.com, you must keep your vehicle clean all the time from the interior and exterior. By preventing dirt from getting to your vehicle's unprojected components, you eliminate any chances of rust and corrosion that could build up and damage your vehicle structure.
Depending on your budget and the value of your high mileage car, you might want to consider painting the areas that are not protected by paint due to overuse. Probably you might want to consider waxing the car to protect it from foreign contaminants that might build up from the road.
7. Choose the right cleaning material
While cleaning your car helps extend its lifetime, choosing its cleaning material does the exact opposite. Therefore, you must familiarize yourself with what materials you can use to clean your vehicle from the inside and the outside.
For example, if your vehicle's interior has a specific type of leather upholstery, you can't use the same cleaning products as those used for cleaning fabric seats, Right? Similarly, you mustn't use strong chemicals to clean the exterior of your car to prevent peeling paint and allowing dirt to get to the vehicle structure resulting in corrosion and rust.
8. Aim for longer trips
If you don't already know, experts always discourage any short trips claiming that it results in significant vehicle damages down the road. Therefore, you must aim for longer trips if you want to keep a high mileage car on the road.
Shorter trips and too many of this topic though trips impact your vehicle's engine and causing troubles to the different internal components. In addition, in some scenarios, experts indicated that short trips might lead to what's known as engine sludge resulting from unburnt fuel and oil, which could severely damage the engine.
When should I give up on my high mileage car?
Although we indicated that they mentioned eight simple tips and tricks that will help you maintain your vehicles lifetime, there are some scenarios where you don't have anything to do. The only best option would be to sell your high mileage vehicle.
For example, if your high mileage car has a significant engine or transmission problems, it might not be worth spending time and money getting it to work. This is because if you compare the value of repair costs to your vehicle's current value, you'll notice that repair costs are approaching 75% or more from your vehicle's value.
That's when we advise you to reach out to Cash Cars Buyer and sell your vehicle. While it might not be the right time now to purchase a used car, it is the perfect time to sell any vehicle that has major problems this is because the current scrap metal prices as of 2021 are significantly higher than what they used to be, which means that junk car buyers and used car buyers are willing to pay much more for your vehicle despite its major problems.
To get a better idea about how much you can make out of your car, considering that it has significant problems and has a lot of mileage, we advise reaching out to cash crossfire by giving us a call at 866-924-4608.
Conclusion
It might not be the right time to shop for a used vehicle considering the surge prices in the used car market associated with the chip shortage. Therefore, many of Cash Cars Buyer’s readers continuously look for answers to “how to keep a high mileage car in the road?”
This article listed eight simple methods that you can implement to extend the lifetime of your high mileage car. Although these methods work perfectly for many people bought depending on your vehicle status, it might already reach the end of this lifetime, especially if it started showing some symptoms of bad major components like the engine or the transmission. If this sounds familiar, this is the right time to sell your car and use its payment towards a better vehicle.
Cash Cars Buyer is willing to remove your vehicle within one to three days only! Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
Our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your car removed safely and for the most money.
All it takes you is to:
- Describe your car’s type and condition
- Receive our instant free quote
- Accept the quote
- Get your car removed and receive your cash payment on the spot!
To learn more about our process and our teen, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.