Car Blog

When your teenager learns to drive and gets their first car, it is an important milestone. Their first car is quite precious to them and it is a symbol of their maturity and freedom – but they also need to know how to look after it. There are some very essential lessons that you need to pass along to your children to ensure that they know how to take good care of their vehicle.

Here are some of the lessons that you should pass along:

A Basic Understanding of Car Mechanics

It is important for your child to have at least a basic understanding of how the car works and what mechanical parts make up the machine. How do the spark plugs work? What is a transmission and what does it do? How do you change the oil and check the tire pressure? These are very helpful things to know, so start teaching your teenager about their car and how it works – even if it means they have to go beneath the hood and get a little greasy.

How to Navigate

Does your child understand how to use a GPS? Are they capable of using an old fashioned paper map as backup if their GPS isn’t getting a signal or runs out of battery? Make sure that your young driver understands how to navigate their way in the world so that they won’t find themselves hopelessly lost on some lonesome highway out there.

It is also important to teach them how to plan out their trip so that they have enough petrol to get from A to B and enough time. Sometimes new drivers can find themselves stranded because they underestimated how far a tank would take them. Or, they can find themselves late because what they thought would be a two hour drive really took 4 hours. Driving is more than just jumping in your car and setting off, it’s about planning and thinking ahead.

How to Change a Tire

Knowing how to change a tire in an emergency is the most basic yet crucial of all roadside repairs. It isn’t so difficult to learn and once your teenager knows how to do it they can do it themselves if they ever need it. Have them practice it a few times with you in the driveway, so that they feel comfortable enough to do it anywhere.

You’ll feel much better knowing they can help themselves, rather than having to wait for assistance by the side of the road or being tempted to hitchhike with strangers.

How to Keep it Clean

Another important thing that your child needs to know about their first car is how to keep the interior and exterior as clean as possible. Don’t let them turn their car into a rolling rubbish tip – it’s not pleasant for riding in and it will decrease the resale value of the car.

For example, your teenager can keep a rubbish bin in the car so that all refuse is kept together nicely rather than piling up on the floor. You might also want to invest in hatchbag car boot covers, which are designed to keep the boot of your car clean. There are many different types of car boot protectors, even ones that are designed to fit different models of cars such as Ford Boot Liners and Volvo boot liners. Make sure that your teen has the right one for their car so that they can keep it in tip top shape.

How to Drive Defensively

It’s not enough just for your child to learn how to drive- they should be learning how to drive in a safe and defensive way so that they have good habits. As well as ensuring that your child takes driving lessons, you might also want to enrol them in an advanced driver’s course or a course about defensive driving so that they can avoid learning bad and unsafe lessons.

These are just a few of the important lessons that you should be teaching your child about car safety when they get their first vehicle. As their parent you are the main source of knowledge about car maintenance, driving and safety so make sure that the lessons you pass along will keep them safe.