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There’s nothing quite like jumping in the car and heading out on a road trip. Whether you’ve planned an exciting trip to visit a bunch of sweet spots over the course of a few days, or you’ve just decided to hit the road for the weekend and see where you end up, there’s one thing that you need to make sure that you do before you go… check your car over! If you want to be a responsible road user, it’s essential that you do carry out a range of different checks. It’s also important for your own safety too. So before you get ahead of yourself, here’s what you need to do.
Engine Oil & Water
The first two checks are under the bonnet. And they’re also the two that most of us know that we need to do, but don’t always remember to prioritize. Whether it’s because you have to pop the hood and get your hands dirty, or you’re just in a rush to hit the road, you can find yourself forgetting all about them. But you’re going to want to prioritize them from now on. So open the bonnet and ensure that your engine oil and water levels are high enough. If they’re too low, top them up as this will stop you from breaking down on your trip.
Tyre Pressure
Next up, you’re going to want to turn your attention to the tires. Because if you don’t, you could find yourself calling a car accident lawyer after being the cause of a road collision. And nobody wants that. So, make sure you take your car to the shop and get your tyre pressure checked out. Tires with too low pressure or even too low tread can cause accidents. To avoid this, make sure you have enough air.
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Lights & Brakes
Next up, we have another two safety precautions to take. And both take only a few seconds to check, but could save your life by doing them. First of all, you need to give all of your lights a quick check over to ensure they’re working, especially your brake lights. If any need replacing, make sure you get this done before you go. Then, you also need to test your brakes out a little, as you definitely don’t want these to break on a long journey.
Documentation
Next, you also need to ensure that you have your documentation sorted out. By now, you should know what you need to be driving legally, and when you’re heading on a trip, you need to ensure that you have everything with you in case you get pulled over.
Got Gas?
And finally, you’re definitely going to want to ensure that you have gas in the tank! It might sound silly, but so many people break down and have to call out a recovery truck to rescue them because they’ve run out of gas. So make sure that this doesn’t happen to you in a different state by starting off with enough gas in the first place.