You don’t want there to be any hold ups when travelling on holiday, or any other long trips. Not making sure you’ve examined and adjusted all the necessary checks on your car, can cause delays as well as dangerous incidents. Don’t brush your #CarSafetyChecklist under the bonnet, make sure everything’s all clear before you go, and travel with peace of mind.
Oil
Always ensure that you’re tank is full, and that you’re not likely to have to stop off regularly at expensive service stations. It’s not only the tank that needs checking, many miss out the engine oil, but this is an essential too. Does your oil pass the required line? If not, you’ll be taking a hazardous risk doing a long journey without topping up, but make sure you don’t fill it too much.
Don’t miss out on any leaks, this could cause your oil to run out at a high rate, keep an eye out for any oil leaking out of the bottom your car.
Tyres
There are legal requirements that your tyres need to meet, when travelling on the roads. A minimum of 1.6mm tread depth, across the central ¾ of the tyre, and right round the tyre, is necessary in order to drive. Make sure your tyres are meeting these standards otherwise you could potentially cause an accident, or risk getting a fine should you get pulled over with tyres in bad condition.
If your tyres are in need of a change, get them from a reliable source like kwik fit, to ensure you’re not getting any dodgy deals. Getting a part used tyre from a untrustworthy garage, could leave you in extreme danger: many have later found out that they’ve got miniscule tears in their tyres and put them, as well as the rest of their passengers, at great risk.
Ensure you check your tyre pressure. You want to make sure they’re right, and therefore not causing any hindrance to the journey. If you have low pressure tyres you could wear your tyres out, not be able to handle the wheel as smoothly, and burn more fuel, so it’s a cost effective job to pump them up before you get going.
Water
Don’t let your car overheat and leave you stranded on the motorway. Get the coolant checked for any leakages and ensure that the water is topped up before you set off. Remember once the engine starts, you can’t open the radiator cap, so do it before you set off.
Don’t forget to top up the windscreen bottle as well. You want to be able to remove the murk, without having pulling over.
Lights
Are your lights going dim? There could be many reasons for that, maybe it’s that one of them is not working. Examine your rear and front lights and make sure all of them come on, from dim to full beam. It’s essential that every car can see when you’re indicating or braking, so make sure those lights are also in full working order too.