Lifestyle

The Best Practices for Maintaining Your Car’s Value

Published

4 years ago

October 21, 2021

Second-hand car sales are booming right now, and at the best possible time – with new car availability dwindling, the value of second-hand vehicles is on the rise. The market shows no signs of slowing, making the future very bright for used car sales. But you can’t rely on the market alone to sell your car. If it isn’t in the best possible condition, it will still depreciate a significant portion of its initial value. But with these simple steps, you can maintain your car and its value at the same time – ensuring your car sells for the highest possible price.

Keep It Clean

Hoovering your car might not sound like a sure-fire way to keep it from losing value over time, but failure to keep up with simple cleaning tasks can quicken the wear of certain materials. For example: if dirt remains baked into your foot-well carpets, the fibres in your carpet will suffer over time, especially if they receive continual use. Worn interiors cut into your car’s value, and re-upholstery can be expensive. So be sure to keep up with regular car cleans, interior and exterior.

Grime left unchecked on your exterior windows can become a problem if hardened – an action as simple as switching on your windscreen wipers could result in a scratched windscreen. Something as simple as keeping your car in the shade can prevent the paintwork from fading, keeping your car looking new as possible prior to re-sale.

Keep It Serviced

Whether or not you’re selling your car, it is crucial that you send it in for regular servicing. This way, you are more likely to discover any potential issues with your car before they present themselves – usually as a nasty noise or smell, meaning they’ve caused further damage in the process. For example, timing belts or cam belts are very important for regulating the mechanical elements of your engine, and are recommended to be replaced every 4 years or 40,000 miles. Cam belt failure can cause serious problems with your pistons, and a service would be sure not to miss a cam belt due for replacement.

By that same token, booking your car MOT before sale can be beneficial to the sale. While it may seem counter-intuitive to spend money on your car before selling it, being able to advertise the car as having passed a recent MOT is a big bonus to buyers – not only indicating that it runs fine, but also that they don’t have to book their own for a while.

Keep It Stock

An easy way to accidentally throw money away in a used car sale is to keep your car modified. Used car buyers are usually looking for a car in pristine original condition, and extras such as a new stereo system or modified bodywork like spoilers and flared arches – while themselves expensive – are more likely to turn buyers off, and force you to lower your price in the process.

Keep Your Fluids Topped Up

Last but certainly not least, be sure to check your fluids regularly. Oil is especially important for your engine, and regular top-ups and oil replacements can keep it ticking over like new for some time. Brake fluid is also important to monitor, and even your coolant fluids can have a marked effect on your engine’s performance.

Lifestyle

Derik Fay: The Strategist Who Built Empires Where Others Saw Limits

Published

21 mins ago

June 22, 2025

Michelle Langton

In the ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurship, few names carry the weight of strategic precision like Derik Fay. Behind the scenes of some of the most dynamic, growth-driven companies in America, Fay has become a master at the art of scaling businesses without sacrificing soul.

What makes his journey all the more compelling isn’t just what he’s done — it’s how quietly and deliberately he’s done it. Born in Westerly, Rhode Island, on a cold November day in 1978, Fay didn’t come from connections or capital. He came from resilience. Raised in modest circumstances, he developed a mindset early on that would come to define his success: if a door doesn’t open, build the damn frame yourself.

At 6’1″, Fay’s physical presence is matched only by the magnitude of his vision. Over the past two decades, he’s grown from a solo operator into a force that touches nearly every major sector in American business. He is best known as the founder of 3F Management, a multi-sector venture and private equity firm that acts less like a bank and more like a command center — diagnosing broken business structures, overhauling teams, and rebuilding revenue engines from the inside out.

But 3F is only the beginning. Fay holds active leadership or board roles across a broad range of ventures, including Around the Clock Fitness, SalonPlex, Results Roofing, BIGG Pharma, Tycoon Payments, Eratyc Entertainment, FayMs Films, and even the combat sports disruptor Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships (BKFC). Each of these businesses reflects a different side of his philosophy: high-functioning systems, vertical integration, and zero tolerance for mediocrity.

And while his public persona is often understated, the reach is massive. His online presence alone has generated billions of views, with over 1.4 million followers engaging with his strategic insights, mentorship content, and thought leadership across platforms. He’s not an influencer — he’s an executor with influence.

Yet behind the numbers and headlines is a family man. Since 2021, Fay has shared his life with his partner, Shandra Phillips, whose presence he often credits as grounding his often chaotic, deal-driven world. Together, they raise two daughters, Sophia Elena Fay and Isabella Roslyn Fay — the true north to his professional compass.

Despite his vast portfolio, Fay is not driven by applause. He’s driven by the ripple effect. Every deal, every venture, every mentorship session carries the same intention: to leave people, companies, and communities better than he found them.

He’s also begun exploring a new frontier — film and entertainment. Through FayMs Films and strategic partnerships with entertainment studios, Fay is merging business with storytelling, stepping occasionally into the spotlight as an actor and executive producer. It’s a logical evolution for a man who’s spent his life crafting narratives — only now, some of them play out on screen.

And while many entrepreneurs spend their careers chasing validation, Fay has been repeatedly recognized in major outlets like Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and Maxim, not for buzz but for results. He’s been cited alongside legacy names in global business and continues to operate with the same laser-focus that got him through his first startup, his first failure, and his first million-dollar win.

In a time when founders obsess over being seen, Derik Fay has built something far rarer — he’s become essential. Not just to his companies, but to the evolving definition of what modern leadership looks like: measured, disciplined, people-first, and unapologetically ambitious.

He doesn’t just build businesses.
He builds systems that build people.

Derikfay.com