How are your maintenance records? How is your friends?

My son-in-law is a Subaru tech and he tells me that many manufacturers offer free maintenance because so many people do not maintain their cars - even if it is free!

I once got a '66 Dodge for free because its owner thought that he got his money out of it - in 60k he NEVER changed the oil, just added it when it was low! I had to pull the pan, take all kinds of gunk out and clean the strainer and it still rattled for 30 seconds upon cold start up. I had to put a set of clean plugs in every two weeks because they fouled so much - at least I had access to a glass bead blaster.

I just took out '08 XC70 in for 82k service. I bought it used in June.

The maintenance book was all stamped by an indie = I called him to ask if he did all that Volvo requires - he told me yes.

On a hunch, I had them put new plugs in - they should have been changed at 75K(I figured that if they were new, I would save them for the next change) - they were the original plugs - they were marked Ford as the original plugs came in '08.

I also had them flush the brake fluid - it was dark, indicating that a flush was not done on time either.

My car also needed a software upgrade.

The verdict is still out on gas mileage, but my wife says that it seems to run better, although we thought that it ran fine.