AMSOIL News Article

Nearly everyone has traditions they maintain, whether it be going home for the holidays or celebrating fireworks on the Fourth of July. For some, Memorial Day weekend may mean sharing time with close friends at the cabin or a trip to that Mecca of racing memories called the Brickyard.

Industries have traditions, too. In the auto industry, there are compelling car shows that capture the imaginations of the motoring public. The Motor Trend Car of the Year is an annual phenomenon that gets a lot of attention. And when autumn leaves change their colors, ‘tis the season for Consumer Reports to announce its findings regarding the world’s most reliable (and unreliable) cars.

For half my lifetime it seems that Toyota has been the benchmark for reliability in an automobile. What a shocker, or delight depending on where you sit, when the 2007 selections were announced and GM’s Buick was atop the list. For the record, Lexus, Cadillac, Mercury and Honda rounded out the top five.

Reliability Defined
When I think “reliability” certain words and images come to mind. For starters I think of dependability, something you can count on.  For example, how many people would use crutches if there were a hinge in the middle and they had a habit of crumpling when you leaned on them? Or who would fly if there were a plane crash every three to five days? Never mind that most of them arrived safely. We really don’t like making it to our destinations only “most of the time.”

True, with automobiles there’s less at stake if the engine dies or a wheel falls off. For most of us, however, a reliable car is one that we can count on to get us to the office every day, or to the store to pick up milk and groceries.  And for Consumer Reports, this is the first aspect of reliability.

There is also a second. It’s that nickel-and-dime stuff that you need to take care of as your vehicle falls victim to the second law of thermodynamics. Yes, things fall apart, but have you ever noticed how some cars seem to have a lot of those kinds of annoyances? Reliability, for Consumer Reports then, also encompasses this second category as well. Sure the car runs, but you almost wish it wouldn’t as you deal with all those little things.

In short, this year’s Most Reliable Car is better engineered than its peers so that it will not drive you crazy with broken gauges, door handles and hinges when you get it a little further down the road.

Reliability and Maintenance
Nevertheless, a critical component with regards to reliability includes what you do to take care of the vehicle.  The oil change industry exists to take care of the routine maintenance that is necessary for these reliable cars to remain reliable. Without doubt, a less reliable car that is well maintained is often going to last longer than the most reliable cars where maintenance is neglected.

Oil and filter changes, keeping injectors and the fuel delivery systems clean, proper tire pressure, replacing worn belts – we all know these are all matters that cannot be ignored if we aim to have a vehicle that is faithful and true for 100,000, 200,000 or even 300,000 miles.

There is a sense in which this routine maintenance is really preventive maintenance. By taking care of our customers’ vehicles, we are insuring that their vehicles will operate with the reliability they were designed for.

One of the best forms of preventive maintenance, of course, is to install synthetic lubricants throughout, from the engine and throughout the drive train. Premium synthetic lubricants provide superior wear protection and keep engines running cleaner, the way they were designed to run.

Oil change specialists with a dedicated customer base can serve their customers as a form of reliability maintenance engineer. Like maintenance professionals in other industries, you keep good records of services rendered and become a partner in the protection of the vehicles you service.

Maintenance engineers have a different way of looking at costs though. They know that their mandate is reliability. Downtime in a factory means lost profits. The goal is “no breakdowns” and the way they evaluate cost is not by looking at the purchase price, but rather at the Life Cycle Cost (LCC). 

LCC is not something a lot of people practice because they are shortsighted, focusing on short term cost reductions rather than long term costs. By selling oil change services on price instead of value, on one time events rather than long term relationships, many fast lube facilities have hurt their bottom line.  In point of fact, what customers need is not lowest prices but an alternate way of looking at how they do car maintenance. They need to be educated.

You will notice that all of the “most reliable cars” have higher price tags. Why? People are willing to pay a premium for reliability. Once they understand the benefits of synthetic motor oils and drive train fluids, they likewise have no problem paying a little extra for the benefits they bring. This is something you can depend on.