Going on a road trip is both fun and memorable. But to really ensure you don’t have a tough time, it’s critical to ensure that the vehicle is really taken good care off. So while we spend countless hours in picking the best hotels or road trip packages; we seldom spend time in prepping the vehicle to perform to it’s fullest on the highway. To make this simpler, we’ve put together a list of 20 must do items for a complete car checklist before a road trip.
We spoke to 7 automotive and travel experts on what they recommend as the ideal and foolproof car checklist, and we promise you that this is all you will ever need!
1. Get the right oil for the trip
This is important to do year-round before a long drive. But if you are road tripping in the spring or summer, it’s important to remember that higher temperatures require higher oil weight/viscosity. Most new cars run fine year-round on the same viscosity oil, but if you’re driving an older car that’s racked up some significant mileage, it might be helpful to upgrade to a heavier oil to compensate for internal engine wear. However, before making the switch, do your research and make sure your car’s make/model will fare well with heavier/thicker oil in the summer.
By Dvortygirl (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
