10. Find a Mechanic You Trust

Find a mechanic you trust intuitively. Think of maintaining your car as a partnership between you and your mechanic. Or, more precisely, between your bank account and the bank holding the loan on your mechanic's yacht. Money only moves in one direction, and in exchange you get a car that runs reliably.


Having a good working relationship with your mechanic will enable you to make wise decisions when the time comes — and you won't have nagging doubts about the truthfulness of what you're being told. This is such an important point we wrote an entire feature on how to develop a great relationship with your mechanic. All platonic, mind you.


How do you find a great mechanic? When you find someone you think you like, ask for recommendations from longtime customers. If you're new to an area, or your mechanic just retired to the Home for Aged Grease Monkeys, ask friends or try searching our database of recommended mechanics, the Mechanics Files.


11. Discuss Your Plans With Your Mechanic

Not everyone wants a car to last for 200,000 miles. As a result, mechanics don't always have a long-term mindset when they perform routine service.


If your mechanic knows you're in this for the long term, he'll spend a little more time looking things over when you bring in your car.


You'll need to remind him regularly that you're hoping for a long, healthy life for your car. Ask him to keep that in mind as he works on your car. Like everyone else, mechanics can be myopic. They tend to focus on the boat payment at hand, and can easily overlook important signs and symptoms that might be right next to their elbows.


12. If You Can't Avoid Salt, Wash Your Car Frequently

If you live in a part of the country that gets more than a few inches of snow during the winter, you're probably very familiar with the ravages of road salt.


By kick-starting rust, salt wreaks havoc on the body and other components. Our advice is simple: During the winter, when there's salt on the roads, wash your car's undercarriage as often as possible. You'll remove much of the salt that's eating away your car, and that's a good thing.


13. Skip the Heated Garage

Garages and carports are great things. Do you want to spend 10 minutes every morning during the winter freezing your bolts off, scraping ice and snow off your car? Of course not!


A garage allows you to avoid that supreme morning hassle, and it also helps slow the steady deterioration of your car's interior and exterior caused by bright sun and storms.


However, there's a big exception to this rule: heated garages. Our advice is to skip the heated garage, which can accelerate your car's march towards its grave. Here's why: Heat accelerates oxidation, also known as rust. You drive in the garage with snow and ice on your car, it melts, and the water and salt mix in that nice, warm petri dish and, come morning, there's less of your car there.


14. Be Proud!

Owning an older car should be a source of pride. You're showing that you're sensible, not swayed by the latest models and capable of keeping your car well maintained. Who knows? That sort of no-frills common sense can be very appealing to members of the opposite sex. It might even land you a date! After all, who wants somebody who's always got his eye on a new model?


Even if it doesn't score you the babe or hunk of your dreams, owning an older car can offer you something else: a truly liberating experience. You no longer care about scratches, dents or bird droppings.


And, best of all? It's paid for!


So who cares what your neighbors think? Shoot them a broad, smug smile the next time they eye your jalopy puttering down the street.