Before the winter season finally hits Long Island, get your car ready for the hazardous winter conditions heading our side streets, highways and expressways. We’re happy to share our top tips to winterize your car.
Tips to winterize your car
Be prepared to take on Suffolk and Nassau County roadways this upcoming winter with these top tips from our very own insurance agents!
Pack a winter safety kit
Pack up important items, like matches and a first aid kit. We even have a great checklist we put together to help our clients! Check out our Winter Weather Emergency Car Kit. There’s even a downloadable checklist.
Winter Tires
Most of us have all-season tires on our cars, right? However, we suffer some brutally cold winters on Long Island these days. Winter tires use special rubber compounds that won’t harden in cold temperatures, so you’ll have better traction in the snow, ice, and slush. All-season tires are okay for our “older winters” - but, the last few years have proven much more intense and it’s time all of us start switching to winter tires each winter.
Install Winter Wipers
How often do you head out to get the ice off of your windows during a winter storm, only to have tons of ice built up around your wiper blades? Winter wipers keep ice from collecting. They are heavier, so be sure to put your other ones back on when Spring returns, so you don’t overload the wiper motor.
Always make sure you have a HALF FULL gas tank
First of all, you don’t want to be stranded anywhere in cold temperatures with less than half a tank of gas. However, there’s also the fact that a half tank cuts down on condensation. So what? Well, that will help prevent gas line freeze-ups.
Bring your car in for service
Winter brings a whole different set of challenges for cars. The battery takes a brunt of the beating in winter. When the temps drop, it messes with the battery power. Each morning it takes more power to start your car, so make sure your battery is up-to-snuff for the cold winter temperatures.
Always have your insurance policy reviewed before winter. Accidents happen all year long, for sure. However, there’s crazy things that happen in the winter that you want to make sure your insurance covers BEFORE you have to put a claim in because you skid into someone’s fence thanks to some black ice driving along Jericho Turnpike. Give our office a call today: 631.543.0500. Our office is located in Commack, but we handle customers from all across Long Island.