35% of Americans Have Skipped or Delayed Recommended Car Maintenance

Statistics Updated August 24, 2026 Austin Mobile Mechanic · Austin, TX

The Number

AAA published this finding alongside an analysis of its own roadside assistance data, concluding that millions of roadside breakdowns each year could be prevented with basic vehicle maintenance. The same research found that more than 40 percent of motorists do not carry an emergency kit in their vehicle.

AAA also cited an estimate from repair facilities that drivers can save an average of about $100 per visit simply by keeping the vehicle properly maintained.

Deferral Is Rarely a Decision

Almost nobody sets out to neglect a vehicle. Deferral happens by default: the appointment is inconvenient, the symptom is intermittent, the quote arrived at a bad moment, and the car still starts tomorrow.

That is why the 35 percent figure is better read as a description of friction than of carelessness. Every barrier between noticing a problem and getting it looked at raises the odds of deferral, and a two-trip shop visit in a congested metro is a substantial barrier.

What Deferral Actually Converts Into

The cost of skipping maintenance is not the maintenance you skipped. It is the larger failure it becomes.

• A weak battery becomes a no-start, and often a tow.
• A worn brake pad becomes a pad and a rotor.
• A small coolant leak becomes an overheating event, and overheating events damage engines.
• A misfire left running can damage a catalytic converter, which CarMD puts at an average of $1,511 to replace.

In every one of those pairs, the deferred item was cheap and the consequence was not.

The Link to Repair Affordability

This statistic does not sit alone. AAA has separately found that roughly one in three U.S. drivers could not pay for an unexpected repair without going into debt.

Those two findings describe a loop. Drivers who cannot absorb a surprise bill defer maintenance to avoid spending, deferral raises the chance of a larger unplanned failure, and the larger failure is exactly the bill they could not absorb. Breaking the loop is easier at the maintenance end, where the amounts are small and the timing is yours to choose.

A Realistic Minimum for an Austin Vehicle

You do not need to do everything in the owner manual on schedule to get most of the benefit. A short list covers the failures that actually strand people here.

1. Load-test the battery before summer. Texas heat shortens battery life to roughly three years against five in cooler states.
2. Deal with a check engine light while it is one fault. In Travis and Williamson counties it is also a registration issue.
3. Check tire pressure and tread monthly. Nothing replaced the annual safety inspection Texas dropped in 2025.
4. Watch the coolant. Overheating is the failure most likely to turn expensive fastest.

If the barrier is finding time to get to a shop, that is the barrier we exist to remove. Call (505) 510-1409 and we will come to the vehicle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. AAA, Roadside Breakdowns Preventable with Proper Maintenance, Finds AAA (October 2015).
2. AAA, AAA Urges Drivers to Stay Proactive on Auto Repair and Maintenance (April 2025).