Summer Car Checks: Getting Ready for Holidays and Hot Weather

Summer breakdowns are a different kind to winter ones. It’s overheating, tyres on a fully loaded car, and long motorway runs on a car that’s only done the school run for months. Most of it can be avoided with a few checks before you go.

Tyres, especially when you’re loaded up

Check the tread and look for cuts and bulges, the same as any time. The legal minimum is 1.6mm, but we recommend changing at 3mm.

Then check the pressures, and look in the handbook for the higher figure for a fully loaded car. It’s easy to miss, and a car full of people and luggage on soft tyres handles worse and wears them faster.

If you’re towing a caravan or trailer, check its tyres too. They often sit for months and perish before they wear out.

Coolant and overheating

With the engine cold, check the coolant is between the min and max marks. If it keeps dropping there’s a leak, and summer traffic is when it’ll catch you out.

Keep an eye on the temperature gauge in queues. If it starts to climb, turn the heater up full. It pulls heat away from the engine and can buy you time to pull over safely.

Oil

Long runs at motorway speed work an engine harder than town driving. Check the oil level before you go and top up with the grade in the handbook. If the car’s close to a service, get it done before the trip, not after.

Air con

If it isn’t blowing cold, get it looked at before the hot weather, not in the middle of it. A long drive with the windows down isn’t much of a start to a holiday.

Before a long trip

• Check all the lights and the wipers, as summer storms arrive with very little warning
• Top up the screenwash, because flies and dust smear a screen fast
• Carry water, sun cream and a charged power bank
• Know what your breakdown cover includes, especially if you’re going abroad
• If you’re driving in Europe, check the rules for each country you’ll pass through. You’ll usually need a UK sticker unless your plate shows the UK identifier with the Union flag. In Spain, Cyprus and Malta you need one whatever your plate shows

How we do it at GT

If you’ve got a long trip coming up, book the car in for a service before you go. Servicing starts from £180, every car that comes through the workshop gets a free battery test, and we’ll tell you how far off your MOT is so you can sort both together.

See our car servicing →