Chocolate Engines

I have spent my entire life in the car business. I ran around the store as a small child, begrudgingly answered phones as a snotty teenager and landed here in college because—let’s face it, it’s everything I know.

Working with my family at South Hills Chrysler Jeep Kia has given me great headaches and great benefits. I grew up watching my family set and accomplish goals, work hard and grow their business. Those examples were fantastic for me and I am honored to continue those for my own children. Because of this unique perspective on cars, owners and the cycle of vehicle ownership, I have seen some really funny stuff. I’m so excited to share the lighter side of the car business with you, and I’ll be sure to sprinkle in the useful and money saving stuff as well.

I’ll start off this week with the most basic, most overlooked, least expensive and most humorous aspect of car ownership. The oil change. If you can’t remember when—it's time. If the sticker in the window fell off—it’s time. If you don’t know where to change it—it's time.

My personal favorite: my significant other usually handles it. (I’m willing to bet car care ranks fairly high on the marital strife list.) I have seen what happens when you forget, and I’m not talking about a month or two, I’m talking about a year or even three. Your engine will cease to function. Your wife will be angry. The manufacturer will not cover it. Your insurance agent will laugh at you. Your dog won’t even look at you. Bad things will happen.

An ounce of prevention versus a pound of cure—let’s put that into dollars and sense. A $19.95 oil change and one hour of your time, or a roughly $6,000 trip to the repair shop + a rental car for a week + arguments with your husband/wife + telling the kids you can’t go on vacation because you had to pay the car bill + the loss of sleep over the stupid mistake + decreasing self-esteem.

I’m just saying, this is the most basic aspect of ownership—take care of your things and they take care of you.

We can tell when you are fibbing about your oil change patterns. If there is chocolate fudge instead of motor oil and you swear up and down you changed it three months ago—we know. It’s like telling your doctor you gave up fried food while he’s clearly looking at your cholesterol. He knows. Do us a favor, do yourself a favor, be honest and most of all change your oil!