Regular vehicle checkups are essential to extend a car’s lifespan and keep it running smoothly for years. During a discussion on maintenance practices, Pavel Konstantinov, who serves as Director of Service and Spare Parts for a division of the Avilon Group, emphasized a practical point: paying extra attention to the machine when it faces tougher usage conditions can significantly impact its endurance and reliability.
When a vehicle operates in demanding environments, more frequent attention to maintenance becomes a wise habit. The expert noted that frequent short trips, typically five to ten minutes, are a common stress test for engines and subsystems. Harsh conditions also include frequent off road driving and long periods spent idling in heavy traffic. Under such circumstances, changing the oil more often than the standard schedule is prudent to safeguard engine health and performance, and to help avoid avoidable wear and tear over time.
Consider the scenario many drivers encounter: a person starts the engine, drives to the office in roughly ten minutes, shuts off the engine, and then returns home after another brief trip later in the day. On weekends the pattern may shift to longer excursions, such as trips out of town. This usage pattern places the vehicle under recurring stress, and recognizing it helps outline a maintenance routine that supports longevity and dependable operation under real world conditions, rather than simply following a one size fits all calendar or mileage based plan. The conversation underscored that such stress is a signal to adjust service intervals accordingly and to verify that essential components stay in good working order, especially for engines, transmissions, and cooling systems, which bear the brunt of frequent warm up and cool down cycles in short trips.
Industry observers emphasize that while standard maintenance schedules provide a baseline, practical driving realities require flexibility. There are circumstances where routine maintenance should still follow official regulations, but the frequency may need to increase to reflect actual usage. In other words, one should tailor service timing to the car’s duty cycle and environment, rather than rely solely on the letter of the basic guidelines. This approach, recommended by engineers and service professionals, helps protect the vehicle against premature failures and contributes to safer, more reliable operation on Canadian and American roads alike.