10 Tips to Prepare Your Car for Your Summer Road Trip

BAY CITY, Mich. –– Before you head out on a road trip for a fun summer vacation somewhere warm, we highly recommend you inspect your vehicle to see if there is any auto maintenance it needs to be done. Winter and spring can take a pretty serious toll on your vehicle and its internal components, so it's important to have it serviced especially before you subject it to a long drive. There are also other road trip resources to consider bringing as well. So, whether you're heading south with your family or some friends from school, make sure to read up on our 10 tips to prepare your car for your summer road trip! 

Get an Oil Change

Getting an oil change before a long road trip is very important. Your motor will be running continually for long stretches of miles (and hours) and if your oil is old it won't do its job effectively, lubricating your engine's internal components and keeping them from warping and doing serious damage.

Create a Roadside Preparedness Kit

To prepare for anything and everything, we recommend creating a roadside preparedness kit. Stock your car with bottled water, road flares, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, blankets, jumper cables, and make sure you have a spare tire and jack just in case.

Get Roadside Assistance 

If you don’t have roadside assistance through your insurance, consider getting AAA. That way, if your vehicle breaks down while on your trip, you’ll always have someone ready to come to the rescue!

Bring a Map

While it's easy nowadays to rely on your phone's GPS and navigation systems, you may wind up driving through places with bad cell phone signal. If you take the wrong turn, you could wind up way off track and add more time to your trip. So, bring an old-fashioned paper map to ensure you'll always know how to get where you're going!

Plan For Rest Time & Switch Drivers

If you're heading out on a long road trip, plan on taking some to rest time from driving and/or switch drivers frequently. Drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol.

Check Your Fluids

The fluids in your vehicle help keep your internal and external parts clean and running properly. Washer fluid and coolant are easy enough to replenish in your vehicle by picking some up at your local auto parts supplier, or our service technicians can always top off your fluids during your next service appointment at Graff Chevrolet Bay City Service Center. With long hours of driving to your summer destination, your coolant is especially important to help keep your engine from overheating, so make sure you've filled up before you leave for your trip. You don't want to wind up with engine trouble stuck on the side of the road midway to your destination.

Check Your Battery

After winter, it's important to get your battery checked to make sure that the freezing cold weather hasn't reduced its capabilities. Our experienced technicians run a simple diagnostic test to see if it's time to get a new battery.

Do Some Interior Cleaning

Your vehicle will likely get a bit messy during your road trip from food wrappers, receipts, crumbs, and other such debris. So, why not start your trip with a tidy vehicle and do some cleaning. At the very least, take your vehicle to a car wash and make sure to vacuum up all the road salt and debris tracked in during the winter.

Check Your Tire Tread

As one of the most important components of your vehicle, you want to take tire care seriously. Check your vehicle's tire tread to ensure they are in good enough condition to handle a long trip and effectively stop and handle well out on the road. If you're not sure, use the penny test to determine if your tire tread is satisfactory. Place a penny in-between the treads on your tire with Lincoln's head facing down, if the tread doesn't cover the top of his head, it's time for new tires.

Check/Replace Your Wiper Blades

Your wiper blades may be a bit worse for wear coming out of the winter season this year, and ineffective at clearing your windshield properly during rain, sleet, or snow. So before you head out on your summer road trip, it's important to check your windshield wiper blades to see if they need to be replaced. You don't want to get caught driving on the highway during heavy rain and have to pull off because you can't see the road well due to your streaky windshield wipers, adding more time to an already long road trip.

So before heading out on vacation, make sure you've read and completed our list of 10 tips to prepare your car for your summer road trip to ensure your vehicle doesn't encounter any issues far from home! Also, maybe you're looking for a new ride to show off this summer? Browse our online inventory of stylish and capable new 2018 Chevrolet models! Then, schedule a test drive with our friendly sales staff to experience them in person and find the right sedan, SUV, or truck to suit your lifestyle!

Hank Graff Chevy is located at 3636 Wilder Road, Bay City, MI 48706 and we are here to help our community grow to become an even better place to call home! For more information on Hank Graff Chevrolet, or for any questions call us at (989) 684-4411 or visit our website: www.GraffBayCity.com.

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