You may be wondering why your car needs to be ready for hurricane season and what you can do to make sure it is. For starters, perform regular automotive maintenance on schedule. Regular automotive maintenance means that your car is ready to take a long road trip if evacuations are necessary. The top five things you should do are:
- Check your oil and perform regular oil changes per your car’s manual
- Rotate tires about every 7,500 miles or six months (and replace them when necessary)
- Replace your wipers when worn
- Keep your filters clean
- Replace your brakes as needed
Why This Maintenance List?
Let’s say the hurricane requires you to evacuate and you don’t have enough oil in your car. Chances are good that you’re not going to find an open auto supply store or mechanic for your automotive maintenance during the evacuation and without oil, your engine can seize up.
When you don’t rotate your tires at the proper intervals, they wear unevenly. Tires with bald spots are a leading cause of hydroplaning and skidding. If there’s a lot of rain during your evacuation, you’re more likely to end up off the road or hitting another vehicle. If you want to avoid issues, you need to be able to see so having good wiper blades is necessary and it’s one of the easiest and cheapest car maintenance tasks you can do yourself.
Clean filters help your car operate more efficiently. When you are driving in extreme conditions, you want your car to operate as efficiently as possible. This includes fuel efficiency which may be important if gas stations are closed or out of gas.
During evacuations we tend to see traffic. That means lots of stopping and going. The last thing you want is to be the cause of more traffic by rear-ending another car. Keep your brakes in good repair and you’ll be able to stop, even on wet road surfaces.
Oldsmar Automotive Can Help
Our ASE Certified Mechanics can evaluate your car and help you understand what your automotive maintenance needs are. If you haven’t had an oil change, tire rotation or your brakes checked in the past six months, it may be time. We’ll be sure to check your wipers and air filters while we evaluate the rest of your car. Call us today at (727) 784-3501 or stop by 3166 Tampa Road in Oldsmar.
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