Four Commonly Heard Misconceptions About Maintaining A Foreign Car

Blog

There are a few common misconceptions out there about foreign vehicles. If you fall under the influence of any of these misconceptions, it could cause you to spend more than you need to on vehicle maintenance or pay for service from mechanics that aren't qualified to work on your car.

The following are four of the most common misconceptions about maintaining a vehicle produced by an overseas manufacturer: 

Foreign vehicles require more costly maintenance than domestic vehicles.

It's true that maintenance on foreign vehicles can sometimes be more costly because auto parts suitable for foreign vehicles are typically more difficult to come across and more expensive to purchase. 

At the same time, it's true that foreign vehicle parts are often higher in quality and less quick to malfunction. In the long run, the greater longevity of foreign parts makes up for any additional expense involved with acquiring them. 

You have to take a foreign vehicle to the dealer for routine maintenance procedures.

Any dealer - regardless of whether the dealer is selling foreign or domestic vehicles - will try to get you to take vehicles to them for maintenance. Obviously, dealers get additional business when motorists rely on them not only for an initial vehicle purchase, but for maintenance as well.

Nevertheless, you do not have to take your foreign vehicle to the dealer for maintenance. If you wish, you can find an independent auto shop. 

You should only put premium fuel in a foreign vehicle.

To find out which type of gas you should use in your foreign vehicle, you should consult the owner's manual. You should not assume that a foreign vehicle requires premium fuel simply because it has a reputation for better performance than your average domestic vehicle. 

If your foreign vehicle isn't designed to run on premium gas, it will be a waste of money to pay to put premium gas in the tank. 

You can go to any mechanic for maintenance on a foreign car.

While you don't necessarily have to go to the dealer to get maintenance performed on a foreign car, that doesn't mean that you can take your foreign car to any independent auto shop out there for maintenance.

Foreign cars tend to be designed a little differently from American cars. As such, a mechanic needs to have some familiarity with foreign car design standards to service European vehicles. Question your mechanic about past experience with foreign car models before relying on that mechanic to service your vehicle. Contact a company like Sid's Auto 2 for more information.

Share

26 July 2016

what is keeping your car from starting?

You get in your car, turn the key and nothing happens. Your day is immediately put on hold and you don't know what to do. Could it be a dead battery, a bad starter or some other unknown element in the car keeping you from going about your business? To learn about the many things that could be keeping your car from starting, visit through my website. Here, you will find a run-down of the many things that could be causing your problem, so that you can more quickly get the problem resolved and get back to your day as you had it planned.