Video: Preparing For Winter Months

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)—With temperatures projected to reach the teens this weekend experts suggest that you should winterize your cars before the season gets into full swing.

The winter months can present challenges for vehicles but as our Victoria Bailey learns, today, there are a few things to check your car for.. as the days get shorter and the temperature gets colder.

“The first thing that comes to mind when people think of winterizing their vehicle or getting ready for winter is anti-freeze or coolant,” said Carl Hogan Car Dealership Executive Manager Clyde Rhea.

Rhea,  says that’s a good start. And it’s not something you have to do every year.

“So about 10 years ago they started putting a type of coolant called dex-cool. Putting the anti-freeze in which use to be a annual or every two year thing you would have to do isn’t as common anymore,”said Rhea.

Rhea says that’s just the beginning of getting your car ready for winter.

” Making sure that you check the tread on your tires also checking your brakes checking and making sure your battery connections are good because in the winter time your battery will start getting weak. Probably one of the biggest things we end up doing when it gets cold is replacing the batteries,”said Rhea.

Rhea says the most costly winter weather repair they make is to the heating system.

“One thing that we run into a lot is if you heater’s not operating correctly a lot of times it could be there’s actually what is called a heater core. Many cases that’s located up under the dash of the car. So the whole dash of the car has to come out to get to it,” said Rhea.

Herb Hatfield winterizes his vehicle every year. He says it’s costly, but not preparing could end up costing him more.

“Well First of all for your own personal safety and second to save money. Because if you don’t check your car out regularly then and take care of those things the next thing you know your going to have to go to a repair shop.. and it’s going to cost you money,” said Columbus Citizen Herb Hatfield.

” The great thing is if your getting a multi-point inspection done by a reputable service center well then most of that stuff going to be checked for you so you can pretty much leave it up to the experts,”said Rhea.

Now vehicles aren’t the only concern during winter season. Tomorrow we take a look at the impacts cold temperatures can have on your home or apartment.