Vacation Travel

One of the easiest and most important tasks to prepare your vehicle for winter driving is to inspect the level and freshness of your vehicle’s antifreeze. The Car Care Council recommends that motorists check their antifreeze every 12 months or 12,000 miles to help protect the engine from freezing and overheating, as well as from rust and corrosion damage.

The Women’s Board of the Car Care Council encourages women to improve their “car smarts” and pass along this information to the rest of their family. Female drivers already are on the right tract, according to the Women’s Board, who said that three out of four women think that following the recommended maintenance schedule for their car is either “important” or “extremely important.” There’s no one like a parent to teach the next generation how to treat a car with special care.

Halloween is the time of year for squeals, squeaks, screeches and things that go bump in the night, but when these eerie and haunted sounds come from your car, it’s time for maintenance. Noise is to the vehicle what pain is to the body: a warning. According to the Car Care Council, the following strange and scary noises are clues that trouble is brewing within your car and that it should be checked out by an automotive repair technician.

A pothole can be your car’s worst enemy. These holes or pits on a road’s surface can seriously damage a vehicle’s ride control system.

If you do drive over a pothole, the Car Care Council recommends that you have your car’s shocks or struts checked to make sure they aren’t damaged.

As Americans get ready for Thanksgiving, car care tops the list of pre-holiday preparations, according to a survey conducted by the Car Care Council.

Both men and women say they are more likely to make sure the car taking them to Thanksgiving dinner is prepared for the trip (66 percent) than they are to iron tablecloths (18 percent) or polish silver (12 percent) in advance of the holiday meal.

Walking in a winter wonderland is a beautiful sight but safely driving through the glistening snow can rattle your nerves if you and your car aren’t prepared for winter. The Car Care Council suggests motorists have their vehicles winterized before harsh weather arrives and especially before embarking on road trips for the holidays. According to the council, the following steps will help get your vehicle ready for winter:

The Car Care Council has launched a digital version of its popular Car Care Guide that can be easily accessed through the council’s Web site at www.carcare.org.

Summer is the main season for road construction, which means there’s a good chance you’ll hit a bump or two, or come across loose stones and other hazards associated with construction zones. These road conditions can be tough on a vehicle’s steering and suspension systems and can throw out the alignment, while loose stones have the potential to damage the vehicle’s exterior or windshield, according to the Car Care Council.

Deep down, you know your car should be checked out before hitting the road for any holiday trip, but with so many other things left to do, some folks put it off. Bad idea, says the Car Care Council, especially when motorists realize that in as little as 10 minutes, they can determine if their car is ready for long-distance travel.

The 10-minute pre-trip checkup recommended by the council includes the following:

Don’t let soaring gas prices gobble up your hard earned money this Thanksgiving weekend; carve out some time to perform some simple fixins on your vehicle for better gas mileage, advises the Car Care Council. Or how about: