We need to teach our high school seniors, and any high school driver about maintaining their cars.
We need to make sure our high school seniors know how to maintain their car, especially if they are going away to college and will have their vehicle with them.
They need to know how to:
- Fill their car with gas and the safety of doing it properly….yes there are some that don’t know how to do this. Check out this site for SAFETY TIPS everyone should know about filling a car with gas.
- Check their tire pressure and tread depth. Visit AAA for detailed information on how to maintain your tires.
- Fill up their tire with air and the safety importance of NOT OVER FILLING.
- How to CHANGE A TIRE if they are in a safe area and not on the highway.
The following should all be found in the owners manual which should ALWAYS be stored in the glove box. Yes you can find them online but you may not have a good signal or a charged phone battery when you need it most!
- How to open their hood
- How to check their fluids like, oil, windshield solvent, antifreeze, etc.
- How to change their windshield wipers
- When to get their oil changed
- When to have their tires rotated
- Check their headlights, taillights, and turn signals and what to do if something needs replaced
- Test the battery to see if they need a new one
- How to jump start a car if the battery is dead
The following are items that should be kept in your child’s car at all times:
- Flashlight
- Tire pressure gauge
- Flairs
- Spare tire (filled and in good condition)
- Tire jack
- Lug wrench
- Jumper cables
- Ice scraper
- Blanket
- Fire extinguisher
- Multi tool
- First aid kit
- Owners manual
- Cell phone charger
It is especially important for girls to know these things. We tend to overlook teaching girls things like this and force them to have to rely on others. However girls should know all of this just like boys so they are not helpless, which is never a good state to be in. I am a girl and my dad taught me all of this when I first started to drive so that I was never at the mercy of someone else which can put girls in danger. Yes, I can even change my own oil which is not as important these days since there is an oil change station practically on every corner, but still nice to know 🙂
