How to Care for Your Car While You’re at Home

During the Covid-19 outbreak, while the stay-at-home were in effect, we spent less time on the road and more time at home. Some of you still work from home because of the ongoing health crisis and most of our commutes to and from work have been canceled for now. So our cars are remaining in our garages or driveways.

Cars are designed and manufactured to be driven, not to say inside your garage. Idle cars are the ones that need maintenance the most.

Now, even though you might not be in quarantine, you still need to make sure that your car is in good shape if you haven’t been driving it for a long period of time, or you think that you won’t be driving it. Hopefully, these tips will help you keep your car maintained. There are several parts of your vehicle that need maintenance so make sure you keep them in mind.

Handbrake

Having the hand brake engaged for a long period of time is not a good idea. The brake pads can get stuck to the disc or drum and you won’t be able to release them when you want to drive. Handbrakes are meant to be used for a shorter time. Instead of using the handbrake, you can use wheel chocks to keep your car in one place. You can use either a piece of wood or brick.

Parking

If you have a garage where you can park your car (if it’s not full with all kinds of other stuff) make sure that you park your car there. However, if you don’t have one, use car covers. Both options can protect your car’s paint job, interior, and of course its windshield and auto glass from damage.

Vehicle Interior

If you plan on leaving your car in the garage or driveway for a longer period of time, make sure that you clean the interior first. An idle car with a dirty interior not only looks ugly, but it can also attract bugs and rodents. So before you ‘retire’ your car, make sure that you empty the ashtray, vacuum the carpet, wipe the leather seats, dashboard and so on.

Fuel, Oil and Filters

In order to prevent rust from excess moisture in the fuel tank, it’s recommended to keep it full. Furthermore, we highly recommend that you change filters regularly and also have your oil replaced. This will remove metal filings, sludge and other elements that exist in old, used car oil.

Spark Plugs

If you’re keeping your car stationary for longer periods of time, it’s best if you remove spark plugs. When you want to drive your car again, you should spray a bit of oil in the socket where the spark plugs go and put them back.

Battery

Your car battery has a certain life expectancy and when you let it sit idle, it can be prone to rust or damage. Not to mention the depletion. So when you’re not driving your car for a longer period of time, make sure that you remove it.

Windshield

Cars that are idle and parked outside, can have their windshield damaged in more than one way e.g. a falling tree branch, bird droppings, flying objects such as baseballs or basketballs, etc. So in order to protect your windshield, make sure that you have your car covered (if you park outside) or to park your car in your garage.

People need to understand that cars are not created to remain idle for long periods of time. They are designed and built to be driven. We hope that these tips will help you keep your car in good shape when the time comes to drive it the way you used to.