Skimp now, pay later - Delaying maintenance, purchasing inferior parts increase costs

Kevin Baxter, Contributor

The country is at a critical stage of its economic survival and, with the current financial challenges being experienced, the maintenance of your motor vehicle may not be top priority. As we brace and absorb the effects of the budgetary allocations for the new fiscal year, households will have to decide which activity takes priority and which are the events that can be postponed.

Within these households are motorists and decisions will have to be made concerning the maintenance and repair of their vehicles. For the typical car and light truck there are usually two to three service intervals for the calendar year, depending on your driving profile. The general service interval is typically done at 5,000 km or three months, which may include changing spark plugs, air filter, engine oil/filters, etc. Transmission fluid/filters may have longer intervals.

These periods may very well be protracted as motorists will attempt to stretch their repair dollar. But considering the frugal posturing, are motorists sacrificing the value of
their motor vehicles on the altar of economic survival?

Desmond
James, technical coordinator, Jamaican-German Automotive School Auto
Clinic, relates "a typical service job with the above detail can cost
approximately $20,000 in labour and parts. This figure will, of course,
vary based on the type motor vehicle and the availability of
parts".

Between these intervals are unscheduled
repairs - or running repairs - which cannot be ignored. These range from
front-end repairs and alignment, to the eventuality of a critical part
such as your water pump or fuel pump failing. There are also defects
that do not usually provide prior warning when they fail, such as a
starter or alternator. Luckily, they may be still be able to provide you
residual service until the part eventually is rendered
non-functional.

With each service interval there will
inevitably be a competing activity that demands our financial attention
and the consideration of our vehicle often loses out. There must be
another month that we can delay this service job, it certainly cannot
impact too negatively, the car will not stop if I wait until next month
are common scenarios motor vehicle owners are faced with. But what are
the implications?

Delaying spark plug replacement will
lead to increased fuel consumption. This is because the effectiveness
of the spark that is produced by the plug decreases over time and a plug
that produces a weak spark will not completely combust the fuel that
enters the combustion chamber (area in engine where the air/fuel mixture
is ignited). As the driver depresses the accelerator pedal, additional
fuel will be entering the chamber to give the driver the required power
or speed and, invariably, there will be unburnt fuel/gases exiting the
combustion chamber through the exhaust system as carbon monoxide, which
is a harmful by-product of incomplete combustion.

So,
you may find that full tank of petrol that could take you round town for
an eight-day period is depleted by day six. You spend an additional
$1,500 to top up and do this for three times for a month costing you
$4,500, when this could have resulted in savings if a set of plugs that
costs on average $3,000 was replaced initially.

A
similar scenario plays out if your air filter replacement is ignored. A
clogged air filter will inevitably lead to increased fuel consumption.
Although the air/fuel ratio is managed by a fuel management system on
modern vehicles, the demands placed on the engine will cause an increase
in the fuel consumption rate.

With the decreasing
flexibility of the repair dollar, motorists are also challenged with the
choice of purchasing genuine versus non-genuine parts. The merchandiser
will advise "buy the non-genuine, because it works just as well". Take,
for example, a ball joint. You realise that front tyres are wearing
unevenly and at your alignment centre they recommend ball joint
replacement.

The genuine pair is $8,000 and the
non-genuine pair $4,500, so your repair dollar may well be leaning
toward the non-genuine cost. The caveat is, however, that this NG part
may only last another two months, hence your uneven wear pattern
continues until it may cost you a tyre at $9,000 each and eventual
replacement of another pair of ball joints. By that time, the
non-genuine may cost $5,500 and the genuine $8,500. All this, when
replacement with the genuine part may well have increased your repair
interval and reduced untimely expenses.

As motorists
we are faced with making prudent decisions concerning our repair dollar.
It's not always the cheapest option that provides the longest service
and, when there are competing activities, delaying a repair activity may
very well compound what was a straightforward repair job into a more
complex and costly activity.

Kevin Baxter is acting
manager of the HEART Trust/NTA Jamaican-German Automotive
School.