News

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Valentine’s Day is coming up in less than a week and while Valentine’s Day traditionally focuses on couples showing love to one another all across the world, there is one relationship that often is neglected. The relationship between you and your car! Now some may feel that their relationship with their car is less a love filled relationship than a commensal relationship or worse yet, a parasitic relationship.

Most people, at least those residing in the United States, use a car to get from point A to point B. Most people get in their car day in and day out driving from home to work and work to home and so on. We give little thought, if any, to regular maintenance of our cars. We only give thought to our car when it starts making a noise, it won’t start or something falls off. Then we think our car is a pile of junk -and well, sometimes this is true and perhaps it’s time to invest in a newer used car!

This really just creates a vicious miserable cycle. We never really enjoy our car, we drive it only for necessity and we at times wonder why we even bother.

Worse yet, it’s extremely difficult finding a decent repair shop let alone an honest one. And even when it is an honest shop –like ours or when they explain a problem it’s like they’re speaking a whole different language.

So, how can we change things? I’m not saying we should be going out and buying chocolates for our cars –after all, we’d be the one eating them anyway. Could we start to view our cars as a helper rather than just a machine? Could we treat our cars to a little TLC from time to time? Perhaps start a new tradition of adding a little bit of TLC for our car on Valentine’s Day?

Here are some ideas for this Valentine's Day:

1)      Name it! That’s right, consider naming your car. When we give something a name, we tend to think about it that much more. I name all of my cars. We had Helga, Olga, Elise, TinkerBell, Xavier and so on. Each of those names holds fond memories of cars past and present. Have some fun and think of a name for your car this Valentine’s Day!

2)      Learn a little bit about car care. We don’t need to become a gear or motor-head. We don’t have to learn the lingo as it were, but could we learn a few car care tips. For two great resources check out the following links: Our very own Car Care Tips section and another useful site: carcare.org. Perhaps learning just a little about maintaining your car will fuel some extra thoughts for your beloved car.

3)      Detail/Wax it/Wash it. Take some time and clean out your car. Sometimes we get so busy with life that we forget to take a little time and empty our cars. Or maybe, we’re known as one of those people that lives’ out of their car. This Valentine’s Day take a little time (or money) and detail your car. Add more love by waxing it yourself or paying to have it waxed. Incidentally, waxing your car every few months protects the paint of your car and makes it last longer.

4)      Splurge on a few fun accessories! If you’re into air fresheners, maybe get a new scent. Get some ideas by looking on Amazon. Personalize your car with your favorite colors or a neat gadget or two. Personalizing your car will increase your comfort while you’re driving your car making it a more enjoyable experience overall.

These are just a few ideas. This may be a whole new concept, but this may just be the year for you to start enjoying your car rather than just using it as a point A to point B car. You don’t need to own  a Rolls Royce or a Bugatti to show your car some TLC!

-Brittany

*Image source: www.happyvalentineday2016.org