Is Your Car Ready For Summer Travel?

by: Haley Myers

Finals are underway and summer vacation is almost here… you know what that means? Road trip! But, is your car ready to take a long haul?

Checking oil level

Sometimes knowing how to take care of your car can be confusing and intimidating, and looking under your hood can bring an overwhelming sense of nausea if you don't understand what you're looking at.  Here's some good news: you don't have to know everything that goes on under there, but if you have basic knowledge of what your car needs, and needs often, it can save your bank account from depletion in the future.


First and foremost, if you don't change your oil, then you won't have an engine. Period. The oil in your car lubricates all the gears through your engine and prevents them from wearing down, and it also helps from it overheating, too.  It needs to be changed between every 3-5 thousand miles.

If you keep your tires set at the correct psi, it will help provide maximum gas mileage and also prevent flat tires.  If your air pressure is too low and you run over a pot hole…you may have to replace your tires, and that isn't cheap.

Checking tire pressure

If the air filter gets too dirty from all the gunk that flies through the grill of your car, it will prevent the combustion process in your engine, which helps provide maximum power.  Though it's an extremely simple thing to replace, if not replaced severe damage can happen to your engine.

As a rule of thumb, keep track of the work done on your car.  The better you're able to record what's fixed, replaced, or broken, the better your car will be, and will have a longer lifespan, too.