I’ve owned my Impala LS since Spring of 2001. Now nearing 21,000 miles; that’s right... 21,000.
Never have used dealer for any maintenance, as their parts’ prices and labor rates are excessive.
Most maintenance has been done by Pep Boys and Christian Brothers, at a fraction of the cost if done by a dealer.
Other than routine maintenance, they replaced a worn tie-rod, a serpentine belt with cracks and the ABC (auto body computer) that had gone totally haywire.
I can understand the belt needing to be replaced but not the rest for so few miles.
An 01 domestic or Japanese brand is well within the range of years we can still work on. European brands are status symbols but crazy expensive to get repaired and many times they require dealers to the work because not many others have the expensive specialty tools. After 2010 they started getting computer crazy with all kinds of complicated systems on some cars.
I consider tires and fluid changes to be routine wear items anyone (smaller shops and owners) should be able to take care of.
Is this car special to you as a weekend rambler? Just wondering why so few miles for the year... I have a 90’s Mustang GT w/105k miles I use as my fun car. My daily driver is an 01 Toyota. Being retired I don’t rack up the 150-500 commuter miles a week I used to.