Depending on the use of your car, you need not follow the prescribed 3 months for the preventive maintenance checkup. Since we have 2 cars, our regular maintenance is every 5 months although sometimes I bring the car within 4 months when I am sensing that something may be wrong. Our car is 4 years old but it’s still running good and the maintenance every 5 months is just fine according to the mechanic.
I do complete maintenance on my car every 6 months. Except for a few rare exceptions when a small problem pops up and I don't like to leave it to sort out later (after all, today's small problem can become something bigger and more expensive to solve tomorrow).
Sometimes you might fool yourself. You might think you know how your car behaves - when you don't. In that case, does anyone think that simply taking a car in for a checkup every 3 months, regardless of its displayed health is a good idea? I think it's better to be safe than sorry.
