Car Negotiation Coach

Cars and snow are not a good mix together.  And with the bad weather plaguing the nation this year, you may find your car stuck in the snow this winter.  Besides making sure you have the best vehicle insurance available, you should remember these steps to get your car out of the snow and back on the road.

Getting Your Car Out of the Snow

If you do find your car trapped in the snow, make sure that you stay warm and follow these steps.

1. Check your tailpipe before you start your engine.  If there is snow covering it, you need to clear it first.  This is to prevent the exhaust gases from backing up into your car.
2. Dig away the snow and ice.  This sounds like common sense, but you may have to improvise if you don’t have a shovel.  Make sure you look first at snow and ice around the tires.  If you don’t have a shovel, then a screwdriver, pen, or an ice scraper can help with the worst build-up by the tires.  Finally, remove any snow in the direction your car is trying to move.
3. To get into your car, make sure your locks aren’t frozen.  A trick I’ve used is to run an extension cord and plugin a hairdryer to unfreeze your locks to allow you to get into your car.
4. Once you’ve cleared the car, you will need to make sure you have enough traction to get your car out.  You can try to turn the wheels to break up any last pieces of ice, and you can pump your brakes if you feel that one wheel is turning faster than the others.
5. If you are still having problems gaining traction, you can take out your floor-mats and put them in front of your tires.  While not ideal, if you’re in a pinch this could help get you going.
6. Make sure that until you get onto a plowed road, you use your low gears.  This will make sure that your wheels have more torque and spin slower.

Avoid Being Trapped in the Snow Next Time

Even with those tips, the best advice is to avoid getting your car stuck in the future.  First, don’t park on the street where you will get your car buried by a snowplow or worse yet, hit by a snowplow as they drive by.  Try to park in a garage or at least a driveway that you can shovel out.  If you park in a driveway, make sure you are not so close to the street that passing snow plows will pack on extra snow around your car.

If you do have to park on the street, you should put some salt under your tires.  This will prevent the ice from building up and give you some traction to get out.

If you live in a snow-prone location, you should make sure you have a snow-kit in your car at all times to help you in these situations.  You kit should include:

• Salt
• Shovel
• Ice Scraper
• Tire Chains
• Flares
• Tools
• A blanket and snacks (for you to keep warm is all else fails)

Finally, you may consider lowering your tire pressure in the winter months to give your car more traction.  You could also switch to snow tires, which handle snow and ice much better than all-weather tires.

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