TOP TIPS FOR WINTER CAR MAINTENANCE TO PREVENT BREAKDOWNS

Here, we've some top tips to prevent your car from breaking down in colder weather, especially when dealing with icy roads and low temperatures.



Checking your car battery



Car batteries are one of the common causes of winter breakdowns due to colder temperatures affecting how well batteries are able to hold their charge. In fact, the RAC reportedly deal with more than 400,000 battery-related vehicle breakdowns each winter.



A car battery typically lasts between 3-5 years, so determining its age can indicate whether it is likely to need replacing over winter. The first step is to open your car's bonnet and locate the battery. Some batteries will have a sticker on them which has a recognisable date format such as 4/21, which indicates the month and year it was manufactured. In this example, the battery was manufactured in April 2021, which would mean that it falls within the 3 - 5-year mark and is unlikely to need replacing just yet.



If there is no date sticker, check the battery cover or the battery itself for a heat-stamped or engraved code, consisting of a series of numbers and letters. The fi...