BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — While many people are preparing their homes for the extreme cold weather, a roadside assistance agency says not to forget about your vehicle.
According to AAA, over 100 million people will travel nationwide by car for the holidays. Officials suggest checking your tire pressure and tread, including your spare.
“70% of us forget about our spare car and then we end up with a flat. We go to change it and there’s no spare tire to change it,” said Don Redman, spokesperson for AAA.
If you plan to spend several hours on the road, Redman said to keep snacks, water and other essentials on hand.
“If you’re in really cold temperatures, you want to make sure that you have a blanket to keep everybody warm. Make sure you have a charger for your phone,” said Redman.
The owner of Capital Collision, Jason Hughes, said having car insurance and money set aside for a rainy day could save you thousands of dollars.
“So, you got headlight, bumper grille hood radiator condenser, stuff like that sensors those things are located in the front of the vehicle. So, if you’re having a lot of accidents where cars are running into the front, or in this instance to the back, those particular cars would have a higher repair bill,” said Hughes.
Hughes said other things to cross off on your list should be wiper blades, car batteries, jumper cables and oil changes.
“If you do the preventive maintenance year-round, you’re less likely to have something catastrophic happen when it gets cold towards the end of the year,” said Hughes.
AAA adds if you’re traveling between now and the New Year, expect longer wait times for roadside assistance.
Safety officials encourage people to pay attention to traffic signs and weather alerts. They said to not make assumptions about road conditions.