3 Signs That Your Car Can’t Handle An Upcoming Road Trip

If you have a road trip planned, one of the most important things for you to do in preparation for this adventure is to make sure that you have a reliable car to drive throughout the duration of your trip, because of the last thing you want to have happen while you’re in the middle of a road trip is to have to buy a used car because your car broke down beyond repair. Luckily, there are things that you can notice about your car to help you know if this is a real possibility for you.

To help you make this determination, here are three signs that your car can’t handle an upcoming road trip that you have planned. 

Your Car Is Prone To Overheating

When you take a long road trip, you’re going to be using your car for hours at a time and with very little breaks between stopping and getting back on the road again. Because of this, you’ll want to make sure that your vehicle can handle all of this wear and tear and the amount of energy it will take to get you there and back again. 

With this in mind, if you’ve had issues with your car overheating in the past, it might be smart not to take that vehicle with you on your road trip. Since you can only drive a vehicle that is overheating for a very short distance before you’ll need to stop and let it cool down, having to deal with this while trying to take a road trip isn’t ideal. 

Your Check Engine Light Turns On Frequently

Another sign that you may not want to trust your car over the distance of a road trip is if you’ve had your check engine light turn on frequently in the recent past. In particular, this applies if your car has been involved in a minor accident that has caused a coolant leak. There is a general indication in your engine that it is overheating due to a lack of coolant, and you may need to contact a collision center as soon as possible to get it fixed.

If the issue persists, your car may not be able to handle the strain of a long road trip, and you should consider looking into other transportation options. While problems with your car that will result in your check engine light coming on can often be fixed without a big issue, this isn’t something that you’re going to want to have to figure out when you’re meant to be on the road. 

You Don’t Have Safe Tires

The tires of your car are going to be going many miles during the course of a road trip. So if you don’t know tires that you can feel confident in the safety of, you should either get new tires or drive a different vehicle. 

With tires that are too bald, can’t stay properly inflated, or don’t have consistent wear on them, your chances of losing traction on the road or blowing a tire will increase. So to keep this from happening to you, you should only drive a car with safe tires when taking a road trip. 

If you want to take a road trip soon but aren’t sure if your vehicle can handle it, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you decide if you can feel safe on the road with your car.