Car Maintenance and Safety Go Hand-In-Hand

June 28, 2016, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

We spend a lot of money on our cars. We insure them, fill them with gas, but sometimes we aren't vigilant about maintenance. I recently overheard a discussion with my mechanic and a young person who had just bought their first car and was annoyed by the fact that it ‘wobbled’ when they drove it. The mechanic inspected the car and advised the young person that it was not safe to drive, work needed to be done immediately or they risked catastrophic failure. The young person balked at the proposed cost, and wanted to leave. The mechanic actually made the person sign a waiver indicating they were advised of the problem. I was shocked that someone would continue to drive a car that is so unsafe.

When I talked to the mechanic he said that sadly he deals with this sort of thing regularly. Some people fix their cars, others don’t. Many people can’t understand why you would take your car in to the mechanic if there isn’t a problem with it. In their minds the car runs well, stops and starts when it needs to. These two things made me think.

Reliable cars are something most of us take for granted. When things don’t work the way they should it becomes a real hassle. Getting in and having your car not start is a problem, being on the highway and having brakes or hydraulics that fail can result in your death and possibly that of others. With cars some failures come slowly, for example it takes longer and longer to start and the battery doesn’t hold a charge. Maybe there are little drops of fluid where you park, maybe there’s a pool of fluid. Do you know what the problem is? Do you know how long before a part fails? For most of us the answer is ‘no’.

I like to think that the maintenance minder on your car is a form of insurance. It tells you when you should take your car in for an oil change, or brake inspection or fluid checks based on your usage and on the average lifespan of the component parts of your car. When you take it in regularly your mechanic can check for problems, do the regular required maintenance and prevent potentially catastrophic failures down the road. Fixing small things and replacing worn parts is expensive, but not nearly as expensive as having a massive mechanical failure. With luck the massive failure simply makes the car undrivable, with no luck you end up in an entirely preventable crash.

If it comes out that your accident happened after you had been advised that your car is unsafe to drive you will face fines and lawsuits along with potential injuries or death.

Please, maintain your car.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

The opinions expressed here, while intended to provide useful information, should not be interpreted as legal recommendations or advice.