KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Keeping your car drivable longer

Keeping your car drivable longer

TRUMANN, ARKANSAS (KAIT) - It used to be that at a hundred thousand miles your car was worn out.

Now in spite of the big three automakers raving about their rising car sales last year, many owners are keeping and driving their cars with rising mileages.

How do you keep your car running over a hundred thousand?

The key is maintenance, keeping up with the oil changes, tires, belts.

The normal things can go a long way to give your car longevity.

Dub Roden from Trumann has several drivable cars with very high mileage.

Roden used to be a mail carrier so he says he has worn out probably a dozen or more cars, each having over a hundred thousand miles.

"Got one with about a hundred two. I'm driving a Lincoln now, it's got over a hundred, hundred and three probably something like that. Still good and serviced. Fact is we're getting ready to go to Florida in it right now. Got another truck with a hundred thirty one thousand I believe on it. And a Ranger with I believe it's got a hundred sixty eight - sixty nine thousand on it."

His current vehicle that he drives regularly is a white Ford F150 Pickup.

Roden, "05 truck, it's got around 79 thousand I believe. Somewhere in the neighborhood of it. "

Tim Gann is the Service Manager at Wood Ford in Trumann. High mileage cars are not that unusual he says.

"I've got one here now got 300 Thousand miles on it. I've got a couple of customers that are rolling over 400 Thousand miles."

The key Gann says, is service, customers who keep up with their cars.

Gann, "They like to take care of what they got. Some of them got new ones and still drive their old ones."

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Here are some top tips to making your car last.

1. Keep up with maintenance and repairs.

2. Wash and wax your car regularly.

3. Timing is everything, your timing belt needs to be checked and possibly replaced after 60 thousand miles.

4. Take it easy behind the wheel. Hard Driving is hard on your car.

5. Support your tires, air pressure, alignment , brakes. Keep your car and possibly you alive.

A car is a mechanical box with tires and things that eventually do wear out, some minor, some major.

A common problem as a vehicle ages is the transmission wearing out. The owner of a truck up on the rack at Wood Ford has 300 thousand miles on it. The owner decided to have it rebuilt.

Gann, "Come in with no forward gears so we went inside it and it is rebuildable. Very important to have your transmission serviced every 36 thousand miles. You get over a hundred thousand miles with out being serviced, well you are going to run into a problem."

Making that kind of a major decision will see a car still on the road or in a junk yard.

Gann, "You know if it's paid for and he don't want a new vehicle. And you don't want the payments, really it's the customers choice."

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