9 Tips for getting your car ready for vacation or a road trip Part 1

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So you’ve got the family in the car and you’re heading to Grandma’s house (or the beach, or Mouse land)… are you sure you have done everything to make sure that you have a safe trip. We’ll be posting a couple of articles - one today and another on Saturday with some tips on making sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

1. Make sure that you’ve done all the preventive maintenance to your car (oil changed, belts and hoses checked, filters changed) and make sure that you have a good set of tires. Make sure that you’ve got your air pressure for your tires set correctly. If you’ve done anything major to the car, do it a couple of weeks before your trip, that way you’ll make sure that things are working ok. Make sure during this check that you ensure that your spire tire is in place and isn’t flat. Also make sure that you have everything you need in order to change a flat tire.

2. Ensure that you have directions to your destination programmed into your gps and have a copy of them printed out (just in case).

3. Make sure you have all of your travel documents (hotel reservations etc), and a day or two before your trip, make sure you put them somewhere in your car.

4. If you have an entertainment system for the kids, make sure everything is in working order and make sure that you talk to the kids about what they will be watching for the trip. Put this in a place where you won’t forget it.

We’ll continue our tips on Saturday.