Extend the life of your car by maintaining it in easy ways. Here are the tips for prolonging your car’s life and keeping it safe. Read more.

Just like we need routine body check-ups, healthy food, balanced lifestyle and sufficient exercises to ensure an unproblematic life, our cars need proper care and maintenance as well as safe driving to ensure a long and trouble-free life. Both routine maintenance and cautious driving interchangeably play a vital role in best car health overall and car life longevity in the long run.

Driving tips to increase car life

Driving plays an equal and important role in ensuring prolonged car life longevity. Careful driving not only protects you, your car but also others on the driveway. Inappropriate and reckless driving is a punishable offence in the UAE and it may be damaging to your car in the long run. Find the below driving tips to follow on the road to ensure car protection and increased car life longevity:

• Gentle Break-in

The break-in period is the very start or the first 1000 kilometres (approximately) of driving your (new) car. In this period, it is important to be as gentle as possible because (unknown to many) most wear and tear occurs within the first few months of driving a car. How you drive in the first few months most likely determines how the rest of the period of use will go.

• Do not speed upon starting

Do not speed or accelerate as soon as you start your car like in the movies, yes, as this can easily reduce the life of your engine. Ensure that you do not accelerate your car because this sudden accelerating will shift your RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) all of a sudden, consequently damaging your engine. It is advised to raise your RPM only gradually if you wish to accelerate. Moreover, sudden braking can be equally damaging to your car life longevity as this can potentially harm the tyres. So be gentle as possible.

• Extreme steering

Avoid sudden or extreme steering extensively towards a direction. Turning your steering wheel towards the right or left excessively or extremely can disrupt tyre alignment in your car, affecting its car life longevity. This tyre alignment is vital in ensuring safe and smooth driving in protecting you and your car. Again, be gentle because most cars these days might not be prepared for heavy operating.

• Careful with bends

It is advised to be careful around bends and turns as this again can affect your tyre alignment and car brakes. This may give way to screeching and scraping of brake pads that, in the long term, may affect your car life longevity.

• Shift gears, slowly

Be gentle when shifting gears while your car is moving, again, as sudden gear shifts can increase chances of wear and tear in your car transmission, consequently damaging it in the long run.

• Choose appropriate roads

If you have the choice between choosing routes to your destination, ensure the path you chose would not necessarily be damaging to your car or car tyres, in specific. Cars and tyres meant for lightweight usage cannot stand the damages of a declining road or path. Moreover, avoid paths with sharp objects such as stones, rocks and nails to avoid risks of puncturing your tyres.

Certain roads may also get slippery during rains and winter, giving way to skids. This can pose a safety risk especially if there is insufficient lighting at night.

In general, avoid roads of uncertain or questionable conditions as you may not be prepared for what may come. Stick with roads and routes you are familiar with.

• Speed Breakers

Be mindful of speed breakers along your path; remember to slow down around speed breakers because not doing so can pose safety risks as well as damages to your car. Risks include causing either cracks or explosions to your windscreen, depending on the speed you were travelling at.

Safe and cautious driving is always safer for you, your car and others on the road. You hold responsibility for not just your safety but others as well. However, apart from careful driving, you can also ensure car life longevity by routine care and maintenance.                  

Maintenance tips to increase car life

• Keep your car squeaky clean

With better cleanliness of your car inside and out, you improve the quality of car life and car life longevity throughout. Make use of suitable products to clean various surfaces of your car, inside and out.

See more on how to keep your car sanitized here.

• Clean car surfaces appropriately

Different car surfaces require suitable cleaning products and solvents to ensure clean and disinfected interiors. For hard surfaces it is advised to use 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol) to clean and disinfect your car interiors, whereas for interiors made of leather just soapy water and a cloth (preferably microfiber) will suffice.

See more on how to clean car surfaces here.

• Check car fluids             

Ensure that you are servicing your car to check engine oil levels and have it changed by a professional or yourself. Make use of coolants in the summer and for the winters, make use of thinner fluids or oils due to likeliness of freezing. It is important to check your car fluids and adhering to doing so once in a while, as this will ascertain car life longevity.

• Air filter

Ensure routine checks of air filters for sufficient ventilation and quality of air in your car air conditioning system especially in the summer. If, upon observation, your A/C system is not functioning normally, have it looked at by professionals.

• Tyres

Check your tyres at least once a day and look for any damages, wear and tear, or perhaps if it needs air. If the overall performance of your tyres are poor, have them examined by professionals and replace them if required.

• Protection from the sun

Ensure that you park your car away from direct exposure to the sun, under a sun-proof shade or covered parking lot, whenever possible. Prolonged exposure to the sun can risk the long term upholstery of your car interior, damaging it in the long run. Make use of sun shades when parked in areas of excessive heat.

Caring for your car appropriately is very important to prolong car life. It is through safe driving and routine car maintenance checks that lengthen car life longevity. With safe and cautious driving you ensure your safety, safety of others on the road and the extension of your car life. Similarly, with proper maintenance checks, you improve the overall quality of car life with smooth use of your car in the long term.

Prolong life of your car with optimum car insurance plans made to serve your needs and protect you in your times of need.