Winter is officially here, and it’s important to make sure you’re taking the necessary precautions to keep your family car in great shape. Keeping your car safe and secure is a key ingredient to extending its lifetime, allowing it to serve your family for many years. Here are a few tips you can use to ensure your vehicle stays safe and secure throughout the season.
1. Avoid Driving Too Close to Other Cars
A 35-mph crosswind could put as much as 3,440 pounds of force pushing on the side of a large trailer, according to a study on commercial vehicle towing accidents by Knott Laboratory. That amount of force can push a car away and cause an accident. That said, you should practice safe driving at all times during winter by leaving some space between you and other cars on the road. Leaving space between gives you enough space to deal with any situation on the road.
2. Install a Dash Cam
The global dashboard camera market grew at a compound annual rate of 15.3% from 2014 to 2020, and for a good reason. A dash cam can help you catch evidence of another driver’s negligence if you’re in a motor vehicle accident or even a hit-and-run. Crimes are divided into two categories in some states: felonies and misdemeanors. Hit-and-runs are considered a felony if the accident injured another person. They’re treated as a misdemeanor if the accident caused property damage alone. Whatever incident you are involved in, having a dash cam in your car will help you file a police report and demand compensation from the at-fault’s driver insurance company.
3. Change Your Tires and Conduct Maintenance
Changing your tires and maintaining them is an excellent way to keep your car safe and secure during winter. That’s because winter tends to affect car tires in various ways forcing them to wear down quickly. For every 10-degree change in atmospheric temperature, your car tire pressure can drop by one to three psi. You should change your summer tires and replace them with winter tires when the temperature falls below 45 degrees. Apart from changing your tires, you should maintain them regularly to ensure they are in their best shape. Some of the maintenance practices you can carry out include increasing tire pressure and alignment. It would also help to install snow chains and other traction devices on your car to enhance traction and increase safety during the cold months.
4. Shelter Your Car
Snow and cold weather do a lot of damage to cars every winter. To avoid being a victim, shelter your vehicle. A garage with a secure door and garage door openers is, without a doubt, the best protection for cars against during winter. If you need experts to complete your garage storage system from shelving and hooks to cabinets and flooring, then you can check out a good place like ezgaragesolutions.com for the best help!
Make sure to maintain your garage doors; check garage door springs, handles, etc. Check here if you are interested in an inflatable garage! You may hire a professional garage door repair service to service your garage door and its torsion spring. Apply Garage Coatings to your garage floor to maintain it. Fortunately, there are other options if you don’t have one.
You can invest in a car cover to protect your car from snow, cold, and road salt. The cover should be water-resistant and large enough to cover your entire car. Another viable option is to buy a commercial snow shelter. They are portable and available in various designs.
5. Keep Your Tank Half Full
As a general rule of thumb, you should keep your fuel tank at least half full during winter. Fuel will prevent accumulated water from freezing inside your fuel tank. It will also allow you to keep the car on and heat flowing in case of an emergency or when you are stuck on the road awaiting help. Be sure to check your fuel levels before heading to the road. This will help keep your care safe and secure.
Following these tips will keep your car safe and secure during winter. Call a mechanic if you need help in installing anything to enhance safety during winter.
