Mechanic talking rubbish? "You don't use your car enough"

[LookatmyFatArseDP]

I have a 10 plate BMW 3 series M Sport (included that wanky M Sport as may be relevant). Shes my pride and joy and whenever she so much as squeaks she's in the garage to be checked. She's immaculate.

A while ago I had "low oil pressure warning stop immediately" warning flash up then disappear. Obvs I cried (nearly anyway).

Took it to my proper German specialist garage. They replaced the oil sensor as it was covered in crap, all good.

Except, it happened again a few months later 😩 warning on then off straightaway. DP took it back and mechanic clocked it had only done about 5k miles in 1.5 years 😳 he asked DP about my driving habits which are rather Miss Daisy - few miles to work, mway for about 0.5 mile, never really get up to 70mph expect maybe once a month for a few mins.

He said he'd love to take our money but the problem isn't the car, its because I never get it fully warmed up with my pootling about and if it was genuine low pressure the warning would appear a lot more regularly and stay on for a while. His fix was for us to ensure it goes on a "spirited drive" at least once a month on solid mway driving for 30 mins to clear stuff out as that's causing the oil sensor to, I dunno, get covered in shit or whatever?

Now cars been fine for about 8m. It did it again a few times last week. No i hadn't "spiritidly driven" it for ages. DP took it out for 40mins. Its been fine since.

While mechanic seems to have been right I guess (he's really old school, loves BMWs, in particular, is always doing training etc). I just find it incredible that a car can throw out such a scary warning every now and then because I don't drive it much??

Does this sound right or do I need another mechanic? I'm so worried about my prize possession 😩

Cars rust out quicker than they wear out.

Lovely to think of all these combustion cars being razzed along on unnecessary journeys just to make them work properly 🙄

Nothing nicer than an evening burn in my 70s muscle car to keep him warm and running like a dream. One of my joys in life.

DH takes my car to work occasionally to 'give it a good run' as I too am a pootler. I think he's right and it's not like he's trying to get money out of you.

I thought this was common knowledge that cars need a good run out every so often?

You lost me at "she"

It's rare for a business to turn away business if you understand so heed his advice.

But he's also correct. Cars need to run at a decent speed for a period of time or they choke up. I know your car is a petrol car but look up DFP's and how to regenerate, your car is not dissimilar in that it needs a blast every now and then!