It’s that time of year again. You know what I’m talking about: we’ve stuffed ourselves with every crumb in our own house, and traveled to our relatives to eat every crumb in their homes, all in the “spirit of Christmas.” And now we are faced with the bleak realization that New Year’s is here and it’s time to make those resolutions we never seem to keep!

Now there are the resolutions that are so routine they sort of go without saying, like starting that diet (yeah, right). And then there are the resolutions that are even less likely to happen, like running the Boston Marathon (if the diet doesn’t happen, the marathon probably won’t either). So this got me thinking about a car-related New Year’s resolution that I might actually keep this year: keeping up with routine maintenance.

I know it sounds pretty basic, and some of you might wonder why this is something I even need a resolution for; but with work and life and everything else, I often forget to take care of my mobile palace. Not this year, though. I plan on getting my oil changed every 3,000 miles and making sure that I have my tires rotated every other oil change. I plan on having my tires aligned this year and getting the fluid levels checked on every visit to my mechanic. I’ve decided that it’s time to make this a priority.

If I am being really honest though, my motivation for making this New Year’s resolution is to save money. With the economy like it is, I want to keep my car running well for as long as possible. And it doesn’t take a mathematician to tell you that it’s much cheaper to have the routine maintenance done on your mobile palace than to let it go too long and have to pay a big repair bill or make a new car payment.

AAA Car Care had an idea that people would want to keep their cars running as long as possible through regular maintenance and created a package to keep people on track all year long. The 200K package is designed to help people like me keep their resolutions by including a year’s worth of maintenance for less than $100. The package includes: four oil changes, 12 monthly tire pressure checks, a tire rotation, air filter, a battery check, an A/C pressure check, a headlamp replacement and over $600 in coupon savings for the 30,000 and 60,000 mile maintenance intervals. This makes it way too easy to keep my New Year’s resolution!

For me, it doesn’t get any easier than the 200K package. I gave several of these packages to friends and family as Christmas gifts and I know that they are getting a lot more than just what’s in the package; they are getting the peace of mind that AAA has come to stand for. So, I encourage you to start your New Year off with that peace of mind by coming into a AAA Car Care Center to get your 200K package and start saving money today!

If you have any tip and tricks, or there is something you want to know about, email me at girlsgarage@mailaaa.com