Car Care Tips for Holiday Travel
The Thanksgiving and Christmas season is finally upon us. If you’re traveling for the holiday, prepare yourself for the frustrations that can come from travelling during the busiest and craziest time of year.
Your car can make or break your holiday travel. Simple car maintenance can save you time, money, and hassle. Here are some helpful car maintenance tips you can follow for your holiday travel.
Oil change
Give your car a thorough going over. Give it an oil change every 3,000 or 5,000 miles depending on how you use your car. If you’re driving in a stop-and-go traffic or hauling heavy loads, it might be best to change oil every 3,000 miles.
Fluid refresh
Checking fluids is an important and the least expensive preventive maintenance that you can do for your car. Check the transmission fluid, windshield wiper fluid, power steering, and brake fluid. Make sure to fill your car’s fluids to recommended levels as they’re essential to your car’s performance. You have to be aware that overfilling these fluids can harm your car.
Tire check
Bald, worn, poorly balanced, or badly aligned tires can result in an accident. Check your placard or door badge for the recommended tire pressures. It’s critical, particularly if you’re carrying heavy loads. An under-inflated tire can cause heat build-up, leading to sudden tire blowout and failure. Proper tire pressure gets you better gas mileage, which saves you significant amount of money.
Brake check
Check the breaks. Postponing this task is not only dangerous to you, the car’s passengers, and other drivers, it can also increase cost of overhauling brake system. Going fast is very easy, but stopping a car that weights more than two tons is a miracle.
Underhood inspection
Inspect what’s under your car’s hood and familiarize yourself with the names of some of the parts. You should specifically inspect your car’s radiator, vacuum hoses, heater, among others for bulges and cracks. Bring a duct tape roll when you go out for the holiday. You can use this lifesaver until you can properly replace faulty hoses.
Emergency car kit
The last thing you’d want is to have an emergency while travelling, and emergencies do happen. Make sure your emergency car care kit contains the following: jumper cables, reflective triangles, antifreeze and coolant, flares, first-aid kit, flashlight, road atlas, bottled water, and windshield washer fluid. It should also contain a blanket, detailed map, tire pressure gage, and plastic tarp.
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