Drive Safe This Winter!

It’s no mystery that winter is a prime time for auto damage. Extreme cold and harsh, wet weather is hard enough on your car without the added dangers you face on the road. To keep you safe when Jack Frost starts knocking on your windshield, your Seattle auto body shop offers these tips:

Prepare your car. You don’t want to get caught off guard if there’s any chance that you could get snowed upon. In addition to snow chains, it’s a good idea to have a supply of sand or kitty litter to throw under your tires in case you get stuck. You’ll also want to find a brush for removing snow from your car; it can be easy to damage your paint job when scraping away snow, so look for a brush that is specially designed for this job!

Practice. If you have the luxury, you might consider finding an open parking lot or other wide, empty space where you can practice braking on icy surfaces. Proceed cautiously here, and allow enough space to assure that you’re not going to damage anything. A few trial runs across a slippery surface may help to keep you from panicking whenever you might get into a real slide.

Drive safely. Under normal conditions, you would be maintaining a following distance of three seconds. When the road is slippery, you should increase this number to eight or ten seconds. Also, you should never be using cruise control on a slippery surface.

Be ready for a skid! If your car goes into a slide, take your foot off the gas. Don’t slam on the brakes, steer your car towards where you want to go, and let it slow down enough for you to regain control. If you get stuck, try to pull out with your front tires as straight as possible; this will reduce the resistance they will encounter and improve your chances of freeing yourself.

Follow these tips this winter and you should keep any damage to your vehicle to a minimum. When all else fails, though, you can always give a call to Greenwood Collision. Through rain, sleet, or driving snow, we’ll get your car back on the road as soon as possible.

Safe Winter Driving Article Source