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How to prepare your car for winter and winter road trips

Road trips can be a lot of fun. As the old saying goes, ‘It’s not the destination, it’s the journey’, and that definitely rings true with road trips. Spending a long time in a car is actually something to look forward to, especially now with some such comfy car designs. Some cars are so luxurious that the idea of living out of them doesn’t even seem that crazy. However, things can definitely go wrong and that is especially true in the wintertime. Driving in the snow or cold can be a more complex job, with more risk that something goes wrong. It’s important to know how to prepare your car for winter, and winter road trips.

how to prepare your car for winter trips

How to prepare your car for winter

So let’s look at prepping for a winter road trip.

Take Your Car Into The Shop

This is a thorough approach that will have a lot of benefits to your vehicle’s health, regardless of the trip. Taking your car in for a full checkup will teach you lots about your vehicle and its performance and will guarantee a sense in which you know what to expect from it if you do push it hard on a snowy drive at some point.

Don’t Travel In Really Adverse Conditions

A winter road trip will always throw up some obstacles as you travel, but there should be a limit to how extreme those obstacles are. Heavy rain, a little iciness on the road or some snowfall is no big deal if your car is running properly. However, if there’s a full on blizzard, or very bad wind, you’re going to want to put a hold on your trip. There’s no road-trip worth dying for or risking injury. So establish if it’s just some bad weather or if it’s something you need to really worry about.

Check Your Tires Before Setting Off

Winter tests your entire car. We’re talking from the windscreen-wipers to heating, but nothing will be tested more than the tires. Your tires already get a rough go even on good days, let alone with ice and thick snow to contend with. Before setting out, you have to make your tires are in tip-top shape before setting out. Anything less could cause you trouble. If you think the weather is bad enough, look into some winter tread for them.

Don’t Be Afraid To Pull Over And Stop

Something about already being on the roads can make people under appreciate the risks that they would otherwise pay special attention to. This piece of advice is true for anything that is negatively affecting your driving: pull over and stop until whatever it is has passed. Nothing is worth risking your life for. Know your limits and treat bad weather with the respect it deserves and demands.

Have A Plan For If You Need To Stop

The first thing is not to leave the car. If it’s extremely snowy, you won’t want to anyway. Always travel with enough food for a couple of days and with blankets and thick clothes. Run the heater sporadically to keep the car hot but not risk running the battery low or letting any exhaust fumes circulate in the car.

Have Winter Supplies In The Car

What you normally keep in your car may not be what you need in your car during winter. Winter season means stocking up on:

  • flashlights
  • first aid kits
  • cables
  • food
  • clothing
  • medications
  • blankets
  • water
  • a shovel

Conclusion

Traveling in the snow or the bitter cold is different to traveling in your car normally. It’s easy to take all of this for granted. But, if you get caught out, you can potentially find yourself in life-threatening danger. So, be careful out there.

About the Writer: Katherine Rundell, a lifestyle writer at Academic Writing Services and editor for State Of Writing, is involved in many travel projects. She loves to research food and drink to get a better understanding of people all over the world.

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By | 2023-08-16T14:12:38-04:00 October 19, 2020|Lifestyle|Comments Off on How to prepare your car for winter and winter road trips