How To Properly Care For Your Car
The golden rule of treating others how you want to be treated not only applies to your personal relationships, but it also applies to your car. Cars are amazing machines that get people from place to place, and for the most part, they do it with little maintenance or issue. Because cars work so well these days, it’s extremely common for people to kind of forget about keeping them clean or to take them in for routine maintenance.
The problem with letting these things fall by the wayside is that these little things over time can lead to more serious issues if left unattended to.
Car Care Tips
While the average person isn’t mechanically inclined enough to replace breaks, change oil, or fix a squeaky belt, they can however clean their vehicle. Patrick James of Trico group suggests cleaning your vehicle routinely a few times a month. This includes washing the exterior of the car and removing any debris that may have accumulated during your travels such as tar, bugs, and dirt. Keeping the outside of your car clean not only make it look better, but it has several other advantages as well.
The first advantage is safety. When a car is clean, it’s safer to drive because other drivers will be able to notice your car as it goes by. When brake lights and headlights are clean, they can also help you to drive the car more safely as well as those around you.
Second, a clean car helps with better aerodynamics, which means better mpg in most cases. The dirtier your car is, the more drag it will create when it drives, thus reducing your overall miles per gallon and making it more expensive to drive.
When it comes to interior care, the simplest thing to do is to keep the car vacuumed. Not only can this help your car to look much nicer when picking up a passenger, but it also comes with a safety benefit as well. Making sure your floor mats are clean, especially the ones under the pedals, is good practice as you don’t want debris to cause your feet to slip when taking your foot off and on the pedals. Also, debris on seats can cause damage when people sit on the debris as it causes friction and can wear out vehicle fabrics faster.
Cleaning the vinyl and plastic in your car is also good practice as the UV rays that come through the window can degrade and break down plastics and types of vinyl causing them to crack and look damaged. Putting protectants on vinyl and plastic can help to extend the life and look for many years to come.
Proper Car Care Final Thoughts
As you can see, taking care of your car will help your car to take better care of you when it comes to safety and longevity. The last thing you want is for serious car repairs, so by keeping things clean and maintained, you can help to avoid these serious types of breakdowns.
