Breakdown Cover Articles

Driving Tips

Summer is the time to jump in your car and have a well-deserved holiday or break with friends and family. After a long winter you will be ready for that long over waited trip to the seaside, a visit to those attractions that you have been meaning to see or ready for a getaway retreat in the countryside. But before you leave, don’t forget to check that your car is ready for the adventure as well and remember it is not just winter when you need to take care to ensure your perfect trip. Below we highlight our top driving tips and we feel that if you follow our advice you will be guaranteed to avoid any stress and ensure you and your car are ready for those drives ahead.

Plan your journey

It will be important to plan your journey before it is undertaken. This means deciding on your chosen route, where the service stations are and the time it should take you to reach your destination.

If you are taking a Satellite Navigation System then ensure that you have the necessary charging equipment and addresses of the destinations that you want to visit. It will also be handy to keep an up-to-date roadmap in the car as well as ensuring your mobile phone is fully charged before you take a trip in case of any breakdown.

It is also important to remember that driving fatigue is a big hazard that most of us try to ignore but statistics show that 4 in 10 motorway accidents are caused by fatigue so it will be important to plan for breaks in your journey. It is recommended that you take a 20 minute break for every 3 hours that you drive but on longer journeys you should break every 2 hours. Therefore, you should plan for these breaks and decide what service stations you can stop at.

Finally, no amount of planning will prepare you for accidents along the way that will slow your journey down. Try to keep ahead of accidents by listening to local travel reports on the radio to try and avoid any delays on your journey.

Make sure your car is ready for the journey

Ensuring that your car is up to the summer driving that you wish to undertake is essential. Hopefully you will have regularly serviced your car and be covered by a car breakdown service but there is some basic car maintenance you can do to ensure your car is in shape for any long journeys. These include checking the following:

• Checking car fluids such as the engine oil, screen wash and the radiator coolant levels
• The tread and condition of the tyres
• The condition of the wiper blades

Check that you are able to load your luggage into the car and if you are using a roof rack that this is loaded evenly and is secure.

Also, if you are travelling abroad it will also be important to ensure that your car has an emergency kit which consists of items such as a breakdown triangle, blanket, torch and high visibility jackets. It is also handy to have a medical kit in your car.

Keep an eye out for the weather

It is crucial to consider the great British weather and we all know this can go from beautiful sunshine to thunderstorms in a matter of minutes. It is therefore important to keep an eye on the weather forecast. Remember to pack your sunglasses so that you can cope with any glare from the sun. Also, if you do experience heavy rain on your journey remember that braking distance doubles, so keep your distance.

Make sure you have car games

If you are taking children with you on your journey then you will know that children can get very bored, frustrated and restless on long car journeys. Therefore, it is important (for your sanity!) to prepare car games for the children. It may even be worth purchasing some car travel games to keep them entertained for the duration of the journey.

< back