Family Road Trip: 5 Car Tips Before You Hit The Road

Whether you’re taking a family road trip to a comic book convention or planning to travel by car to another destination, it’s important to have your vehicle in tip-top shape. Every summer, my family and I take a road trip to San Diego for Comic-con. It’s always been my responsibility to make sure the car is ready for the long trip, so I’m sharing five things you should do to your vehicle before you hit the road.

1. General Car Maintenance: Check your oil and change it, if necessary. Check the transmission fluid — if you need to add fluid make sure you check your owners manual for the right type of trans fluid. Check your radiator coolant level. This is important especially during the hot summer months to keep your car from overheating. My family and I travel from Vegas to San Diego across the Mojave Desert in the Summer so this is extremely important for us. If you are traveling in extreme heat, like us, it’s not a bad idea to bring a gallon of water in case of overheating.

2. Tires: Check your tires tread for wear and for the recommended tread depth (see owners manual for this). You may also want to considering rotating your tires, but at a minimum, make sure the tire air pressure is correct. Having the correct air pressure in your tires help with your fuel mileage. Also, make sure you have a jack and a lug wrench, in case of having a flat tire.

3. Brakes: You should always check your vehicle brakes before any trip. If you can’t do it yourself, many mechanics will do it for free. Also check that your brake fluid levels are adequate.

4. Basic Tools for the Road: I recommend that you bring a small tool box filled with basic, but necessary, tools, such as screwdriver, wrench and pliers. Duct tape has also been known to be extremely helpful and you never know when a flashlight might come in handy.

If you can work it into your budget, it might be helpful to bring a car battery jumper too. Last year we failed to bring ours with us and sure enough, our battery went dead in the parking garage under the San Diego Convention Center. We were one of the last ones to leave that day so it was pretty cleared out by the time we realized it and when security came by, they told us they couldn’t give jumps. Lucky for us, someone ended up passing by and we were able to get a jump. If you don’t have a car battery jumper and can’t afford one right now, ask around and see if someone can let you borrow one.

Also, some of the items above can be acquired by owning a roadside assistance kit, which you might already have. They usually come with jumper cables, a flashlight, duct tape, first aid kit, and more.

5. Car Wash: I know you may be wondering why a car wash is on my list of important things to do before a road trip. It doesn’t sound like a major thing, but considering all the dirt and grime from the freeway — not to mention all the BUG guts — you’ll find your vehicle plenty dirty by the time you arrive at your destination. Dirty window or mirrors can be a safety hazard. Plus, if you are like our family, there is probably lots of snacking and drinking that’s happening in the car. My personal opinion its better to start the road trip with a clean vehicle. I wash the outside and the inside, including the windows and mirrors. I prefer to start our trip fresh and clean (because it won’t be clean afterwards).

Another suggestion would be to consider getting roadside assistance, if you don’t already have it. Roadside assistance is usually able to help in the case of a flat tire, dead battery, keys locked in car, and in the worse case, a need for a tow. AAA is one auto club that offers roadside assistance, but many insurance companies or even wireless cell phone carriers also offer this for an additional monthly fee.

I realize some of these tips might not be something you are comfortable handling. If you aren’t, I would recommend you take your car to a mechanic or have a trusted friend or family member take a look over everything before you leave for your road trip.

This list should be a good starting point of things to think about before heading out on your road trip. If you have any road trip car tips to offer, we’d love for you to share — just leave a comment below.