Posted on 12/14/2017
1. Maintenance vs. Repair Maintenance is preventive in nature. The idea behind changing operating fluids such as engine oil, coolant, gearbox oil, differential oil and brake fluid, for example is to prevent the need for premature repairs. Replacement of consumable parts such as brake pads, brake rotors, wiper blades, filters, bulbs etc also comes under the head of maintenance. If you follow BMW’s and other European vehicle maintenance schedules, there really isn’t much maintenance to be done at all. However, European vehicles current schedule is designed to reduce the cost of ownership…for the manufacturer! The companies started providing free scheduled maintenance during the warranty period about nine years ago, whereupon the “schedule” was heavily revised. Back when owners paid for maintenance, BMW and other European vehicle required quite a bit of it. Now that the European vehicle manufacture pays for maintenance, the cars hardly nee ... read more