A Woman’s Point of View: The Secret to Keeping What You Have.

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

In the automotive world these days it is becoming trendy to fix up and keep the car you have. It is the “politically correct” thing to do in today’s economy and trend towards sustainability. This is a great trend in theory, but let’s face it girls, we who change our clothes three and four times a day find it goes against our nature to not change our car every year or so. Fess up ladies, who of you have never bought those ‘must have’, hot new shoes only to get them home, taken them out of the box, thought to yourself ‘what was I thinking’, and tossed them in the Goodwill bag. Hmmm?

Oddly enough, I am different about my car. Once I find a car I really like, I will drive it until it falls apart on the road – no matter how much I want all those new gadgets that are in the newer models. My SUV is going on fourteen years old and is still running strong. The secret is to add new features to your old car. GPS devices like Garmin and bluetooth adapter kits are not that expensive, they're easy to install and hey - they work.

I will tell you another secret – regular maintenance. At Cars For Keeps our mechanics give you a strong once over inspection every time you have an oil change. Just like maintaining good health for the body, an early diagnosis to any problem your car may have results in an easier, and cheaper, fix before the first problem causes a second and third problem. So, dust off that old faithful car, give it regular oil changes, keep those fluids fresh, come to us quickly when you hear a noise and maintain those tires with the right air pressure. Your pocketbook will thank you, and who knows, maybe you will find another pair of ‘must have’ shoes.