The cold can take a huge toll on your car. Since temperatures have plummeted in Northeast Ohio, autobody shops have been seeing an influx of customers with all sorts of issues.
There is a diagnostic checklist auto body shops will run on your car any time of year. But when temperatures drop below freezing, that checklist becomes even more important.
"The biggest misconception is, people just think they can get in their cars and just drive them and put gas in them," said Chris Congelio with Terry's North Coast Auto Shop.
From tires to transmission, you need to check everything before hitting the road in frigid temps.
Start with your wipers, Congelio said.
"I'm looking at the actual rubber blade right here, making sure there's no tears," Congelio said.
If you take your car in to an auto body shop, mechanics will run a full test, one that will look at tires, the battery and all the important fluids, including coolant, power steering, washer fluid, engine and transmission oil. All fluids need to be filled to the appropriate levels and should be checked regularly.
So if you haven't gone to get your car checked for winter yet, the experts agree, it's better late than never.
"It costs $20 to get it checked out and then you can go from there and you can pretty much determine, if you don't have a whole lot of money to spend, you might be able to fix a few little things," Congelio said.
