October is Fall Car Care Month and prepping your car for winter before the cold season rolls in is your best course of action for making sure your car is ready for the season.
Whether you like to do it yourself or you prefer hiring a professional, we at Premium Insurance recommend a checklist of 5 foundational maintenance items:
- Check your fluids. Check your car’s fluids including your engine oil, power steering, brake and transmission, washer fluid, and your antifreeze. If any of these are low, be sure to fill them to the proper level as instructed in your car’s manual.
- Check your hoses and belts. Make sure your car’s hoses and belts aren’t cracked, brittle, frayed, loose or have excessive wear. If so, replace them immediately. Any auto parts store can help you find the right ones.
- Check your battery. Open your hood and make sure there is no battery acid or corrosion on the terminals and that your cable connections are clean and tight around the battery terminals.
- Check your tires. Make sure that your tire pressure matches up with the recommended tire pressure stated on the wall of your tires (be sure that all four of your tires have the same air pressure). Also, check your tire pressure again when weather begins to get cold as you may loose some air pressure due to a drop in temperature. If your tires have any bulges or bald spots, take them into a tire shop immediately to prevent having a blowout while you’re driving.
- Check your wipers and lighting. Although these are smaller details than the rest of our list, they are nonetheless important to your overall winter safety when driving your vehicle. Be sure that all of your lights are in proper working condition and that your wipers are fairly new.
Fall and Winter car care is essential to ensuring your safety and the safety of those you care about. At Premium Insurance, our goal is to help you get superior care at an affordable price. You can get a free quote here.