How often do you use your car on a normal week?
You might be like me and use on a daily basis for quite short journeys, like the school run, and then maybe a longer trip out for a family outing at the weekends.
Or maybe you have a 45 minute commute to the office 5 days a week and then a trip to the big supermarket on a Saturday.
However much you normally drive your car, I’m betting you’re actually driving it way, way less now.
And if your car is spending most of its time just sitting outside your house, you need to make sure you’re doing all the things you need to do to keep caring for it.
Whether your car is a brand new shiny Audi, a Vauxhall lease car or a well-loved family Ford, you need to keep looking after it while it’s off the road, so when you do shift back to a more normal routine it’s ready and raring to go.
Here are some things you might want to do:
Give it a good clean
Spend a bit of time cleaning your car on the outside and the inside.
Washing away things like tree sap and bird poo will help keep the paint job in good condition.
And as for the inside, make sure you clear out all the kids’ mess from the backseats and check there’s no bits of food left behind that will go bad and leave the car smelling terrible.
Fill up the tank
Even if you won’t be driving for a while it’s a good idea to fill the car’s tank up.
Having a full tank will help reduce condensation that can build up in the tank as a result of fluctuations in the weather.
Keep the battery happy
One of the biggest issues people face when they don’t drive their car for a while is the battery going flat.
So even if you’ve not actually got anywhere to drive to, try to take your car out for a 20 minute run now and then to keep the battery happy.
A great side benefit of doing this is that you’ll also then have a chance to keep the gearbox moving and brakes sharp.
Keep an eye on your tyres
Make sure your tyre pressure is still right and that the tyres haven’t started to go flat while the car’s been idle, before heading out any where.
You can check them yourself at home with a tyre pressure gauge or you can do it at the local petrol station when you go to top up the tank. Taking the car out for a short drive to keep the battery topped up will also help stop flat spots on the tyres, which can happen when they’re left in the same place for as little as a month.
Keep track of your car admin
When you’re not driving your car regularly it can start to become a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, but you need to make sure you’re keeping track of important things like when your MOT is due, when you need to renew your car tax and any other car-related payments you might need to make.
Sit down and work out when these things need to be dealt with and then put them in your calendar and set up reminders on your phone to prompt you to get them sorted.
Hopefully these tips will help you keep your car well-looked after during the times when you’re not driving it as much as normal.
So when you do get behind the wheel a bit more again things will still be running nice and smoothly.
Disclosure: this is a collaborative post