Dear Tom and Ray:

Our Honda Accord LX purchased new in April of 1992 now has 40,000 miles on it (not bad for two seventy-year-old drivers). We have followed the Honda handbook recommendations for maintenance every 7,500 miles. At our last maintenance (37,500 miles), the garage placed a sticker on the windshield with the notation that the next service should be at 42,250 miles, which is half the usual interval...only 3,250 miles. What would you do?
Arthur

RAY: Well, the first thing I'd do is go down to the local marina and see how big a boat this guy is making payments on.

TOM: Actually, he may be right if he's simply suggesting an oil and filter change. We wrote a pamphlet recently called "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Knowing It" (and by the way, anybody can get one by sending $3 to...) And one of the surest ways to ruin your car is by NOT changing the oil often enough.

RAY: We don't think most owner's manuals recommend frequent enough oil changes. Most of them tell you to do it every 7,500 miles. We suggest changing the oil and filter every 5,000 miles, but if you do a lot of hard driving (stop and go, hot weather, or mountain driving), you may want to change it even more often than that.

TOM: So if your mechanic is just suggesting an oil and filter change at 42,250, than I agree with him. But don't let him do a full blown "service" on the car (spark plugs, air freshener, fuzzy dice, etc). You don't need all that. If he wants to do all that, tell him fine, but only if he lets you use his boat on the weekends.