Car maintenance schedule: how often to service everything
The intervals below are range-medians cross-checked against published manufacturer schedules (Toyota, Honda, Ford), AAA guidance, and tire-industry age limits — leaning conservative. Your owner's manual always wins; use these when the manual is vague or long gone.
The schedule at a glance
| Service | Every (miles) | Every (time) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil & filter change | 5,000 | 6 months | Whichever comes first. Modern synthetics tolerate more; short-trip city driving deserves less. |
| Tire rotation | 5,000 | 6 months | Pair it with the oil change so neither gets forgotten. |
| Brake pads — inspect | 12,000–15,000 | — | Inspection interval, not replacement — pads wear by driving style, not by calendar. |
| Engine & cabin air filters | 30,000 | — | Sooner on dusty roads. The cabin filter is the cheap fix for weak A/C airflow. |
| Coolant | 60,000 | — | First change; many long-life coolants then run 30,000–50,000-mile cycles. |
| Brake fluid | — | 3 years | Time-based regardless of mileage — brake fluid absorbs water even in a parked car (Honda's rule). |
| Spark plugs | 100,000 | — | Modern iridium/platinum plugs. The old 60k number is for legacy copper plugs. |
| Timing belt | 90,000 | 84 months | Belts age as well as wear (Honda pairs ~105k with 7 years). Skip if your engine uses a chain. |
| Battery | — | 3–5 years | AAA's field range. Heat kills batteries faster than cold. |
| Wiper blades | — | 6–12 months | Rubber degrades in the sun whether you use them or not. |
| Tires — age limit | — | 6 years | Replace at 6 years regardless of tread; never run tires past 10 (industry age guidance). |
Why intervals have two dimensions
Most services are due by miles or months, whichever comes first. A car that only does 3,000 miles a year still needs its oil changed — oil oxidizes and collects moisture with time, not just distance. The reverse also holds: a highway commuter can hit the mileage interval long before the calendar one.
Some items are genuinely one-dimensional. Brake pads, transmission fluid, and spark plugs wear with use, so they're mileage-only. Batteries, brake fluid, and wiper blades degrade with time, so they're calendar-only. A good reminder system respects that instead of forcing a fake second interval.
The interval is the easy part — remembering is the hard part
Nobody forgets that oil changes exist; people forget when the last one was. The fix is a log: write down the date and odometer every time, and set a reminder anchored to that record. That's exactly what Car Log does — you create a reminder per service with intervals by miles and months, it anchors to your last logged service, and logging the next one advances it automatically. Your history also becomes an asset: a documented maintenance record is worth real money when you sell the car.
Published 2026-08-20. Sources: published maintenance schedules from Toyota, Honda, and Ford; AAA battery and wiper guidance; tire-industry age recommendations. Always defer to your vehicle's owner's manual.