Millions of people are doing one of the worst things they can do to their cars -- putting off routine maintenance, according to The Car Pro.
Concerns about money and the rising cost of car repairs are keeping people from getting the oil changed or the tires rotated, and that's a big mistake, Jerry Reynolds says.
The problem is that delaying maintenance will cause bigger problems down the road.
"The tire rotation is going to get you an extra ten-to-20 thousand miles out of a set of tires, and tires today are not inexpensive, they've gone up a lot," Reynolds tells Newsradio 740 KTRH.
A recent Carfax survey says the average age of cars on the road is higher than just a few years ago because people are keeping their cars longer.
Jerry Reynolds, host of The Car Pro show, weekends on 740 KTRH, says it's essential to keep changing the oil regularly, keep the fluids clean and flowing and to keep the tires safe.
As the most recent election cycle showed, a large number of people are worried about their personal finances, inflation and the U.S. economy, causing maybe 30 million people to hesitate to have maintenance work done, but while that will save some money in the short run, it's bad in the long run because car problems left unchecked will be more severe -- and more costly -- down the road.
"Yeah, I know it hurts right now to rotate those tires or to get that oil changed, but in the long run it's so much cheaper if you want to make a car last.
"When I get callers at KTRH that tell me they've got well more than 200,000 miles on their cars, I typically always say the same thing, 'Wow, you must have done your maintenance.'"