When the winter season fast approaches, it’s high time to start preparing your garage for winter car maintenance. The cold seasons bring new challenges for vehicles, which you must address if you want to increase the longevity of your vehicle. However, you can’t tackle these maintenance tasks if your garage floor and garage storage are not in a good place functionality-wise.

Learn everything you need to know in terms of organizing and preparing your garage for cold-air car maintenance in the winter.

Declutter and Clean Your Garage for Efficiency

The garage space in a home is often one of the most overlooked areas in regard to cleaning and organizing. Having a clean garage will provide you with a more efficient workspace for your vehicle by making tools and materials easier to find while also preventing unnecessary clutter from accumulating. Below are a few helpful tips for figuring out how to declutter your garage space:

1. Sort and Donate: Start by sorting through items and donating anything you no longer need or use as an initial pass for the cleaning.
2. Create Storage Solutions: Utilize shelves, cabinets, and hooks to organize tools, equipment, and supplies to get things off of the ground.
3. Label Everything: Clear labeling will help you quickly find what you need and maintain order in the chaos of your garage.
4. Regular Maintenance: Make a plan to clean and declutter your garage regularly to prevent clutter buildup, ideally cleaning it every season.
5. Utilize Vertical Space: Install overhead storage or racks to maximize space in your garage.

Essential Tools for Winter Car Maintenance

Once you have begun to get a handle on the organization in your garage, it’s time to stock up your storage space with essential tools for winter car maintenance. While these may be considered seasonal items, they are undoubtedly important for your vehicle:

• Car battery testers to check up on the battery level in your vehicle
• Tire inflators in case something causes your tires to rapidly lose air
• Snow brushes that can allow you to remove ice and snow from the windshield and windows of your car
• Grab yourself a pair of work gloves that can provide you with skin protection for your hands
• Purchase a funnel in case you need to top off fluids under the hood
• Pick up some specialty tools such as a torque wrench, oil filter wrench, fuel wrench, lug nut wrench, tire iron, and jack

Each of the above tools can help you keep your vehicle in peak condition by allowing you to identify issues with the vehicle and fix small items. Try to store any winter tool you purchase in an easy-to-access location so that you don’t need to worry about losing something you just bought.

Storage Solutions to Maximize Space and Accessibility

When you are organizing your garage, effective storage solutions will be the key to maximizing space and accessibility while also providing easy access to all the tools, fluids, and car accessories that you purchase. Try to use shelves, cabinets, and hooks to store your items more effectively rather than just throwing them into random boxes.

An easy tip that can help you find items in your garage quicker is to organize your items by frequency of use and then reorganize them with the seasons. This way, during winter, your items geared toward the cold season will be within easy reach when you are working on your vehicle. Don’t forget to also reduce the risk of spillage in your garage by storing items like antifreeze and oil in secure containers that are away from heat sources and in a location that is closer to room temperature rather than the frigid cold weather of winter.

Creating a Safe and Efficient Winter Maintenance Workspace

If you have an affinity for working on vehicles and don’t think you need the help of a certified professional, it’s important to ensure that your garage space is safe and ready for work. Try to set up a dedicated area for maintenance tasks where you can set parts from your vehicle down on, ideally, a large table or workbench.

Ensure that this area has adequate lighting so that you can see what you’re doing even in the dark. On top of this, try to improve the ventilation in your garage by opening windows, using your garage door opener, and opening any doors, especially if you are dealing with fluids or chemicals.

Keep in mind that during the winter months, it will get quite cold in your garage, so rather than bundling up in blankets while working, think about installing rubber mats or heaters in your garage. This will make it both safer and more comfortable to take care of repairs in winter weather.

How Endurance Auto Protection Plans Help with Winter Mechanical Issues

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact that you may not have the expertise to handle the repair of an issue on your vehicle. In situations such as this, it’s best to trust the work of an accredited professional. If you have an extended warranty or auto protection plan tied to your vehicle, you may not be on the hook for some or all of those repair costs.

For example, Endurance auto protection plans cover common winter mechanical problems such as battery failure or heating system issues, which can help you save money at the repair shop. In addition to this, though, certain Endurance plans, such as the near bumper-to-bumper Supreme protection plan, offer coverage ranging from small parts such as gaskets and seals to large parts such as the engine.

With an Endurance auto protection plan, you can have peace of mind while driving on the road this winter. An added perk is that all Endurance plans come with standard perks like 24/7 roadside assistance and a year of our Elite Benefits for bonuses such as tire repair or replacement, key fob replacement, up to $1,000 in total loss protection, and more.*

Protect Your Vehicle and Stay Organized for Winter Maintenance

The last thing you want to deal with while trying to fix your vehicle is tripping over a bunch of boxes or struggling to find newly purchased items such as an exhaust pipe, fuel stabilizer, or some other part. Ensure you can get your vehicle repaired quickly, but don’t hesitate to take it to a professional repair shop if the issue is outside your expertise. An organized garage will make any maintenance tips you follow more efficient, so take action and clean up your clutter as soon as possible.

Once you do start taking care of maintenance tips, don’t forget to check whether the repair you may need to get done falls under your extended warranty. If you need a new vehicle protection plan, contact an Endurance advisor at (800) 253-8203 or request a FREE quote online. You can also shop our eStore to see your plan recommendations and pricing now.