Cars aren’t cheap, so as a car owner, you want to do everything you can to protect it from damage. Canadian winters are especially damaging to vehicles so if you want to ensure you can maintain the value of your vehicle for as long as possible, you’re going to want to take a few protective measures. In this article, we’re going to give you five ways to protect your car from wintertime damage.
1. Salt Eliminator Treatment
Today, the salt that most towns/cities are using to clear their streets of ice are increasingly corrosive, causing more damage to vehicles. This de-icing salt can create corrosion quickly even on new vehicles. The last thing you want is to have a 3-year-old vehicle with rust on it. A salt eliminator treatment can help protect your vehicle from corrosive salts. You can get this done by a professional who will clean the underside of your vehicle ensuring that salt will not stick to the bottom or side of your vehicle.
2. Rust Inhibitor
For most people who stay on top of their vehicle maintenance, an annual rust inhibitor treatment is usually a must. For best results, a rust inhibitor treatment should be done after a salt eliminator treatment. Ideally you should aim to do this once a year and you should expect to pay around $200 per treatment. When it comes time to sell or trade in your vehicle, if you want to make the most money possible you’re going to need to have a rust free car. So while $200 may seem expensive per appointment, in the end, having a rust free car could save you thousands of dollars.
3. Use Floor Liners
Custom made floor liners designed to perfectly fit the interior of your car can result in massive savings when it comes time to re-sell or trade-in your vehicle. Putting floor liners in your vehicle will protect your carpet from slush and salt, keeping it in as good condition as possible. The best part of this is when springs comes and you can remove the liners, it takes about 2 minutes to clean them completely with a quick hose down.
4. Clear Ice Off Your Car
It’s 7am and -20 degrees out and you need to get to work, nobody would blame you if you left all the frozen ice on your car for the drive into the office. Well, it may be worth considering as leaving ice on your car can result in scratches and chips. But remember, when you’re clearing your car off snow and ice to not be too aggressive. If you’re trying to hack ice off your windshield you could easily end up chipping it. The same goes for clearing snow/ice off your roof or doors, if you’re not careful you could leave a scratch. Lastly, NEVER put warm water on your windshield to melt ice as this will usually result in a cracked windshield.
