Warm your car up

The car also has to brave the chill and is very likely to break down if proper care is not taken. Here is how to keep your car in top condition as the temperature dips.

Taking the warm refuge of one’s car after the open air garden party is one thing that we all love to do in winters. But the car also braves the chill and is very likely to break down if proper care is not taken. "Winter is one time we get lazy and care least about our cars," says Ankush Seth of Modern Auto Centre, Rajendra Nagar. "But this is one time, like monsoon, when cars need to be at their best."



Avoid the nightmare

Being stuck up in the middle of nowhere with a frozen car battery at night is one thing that we all would want to avoid. Moreso, because even mechanics will be hard to find. "I learned my lesson the hard way when my car broke down on a highway due to battery failure," says mediaperson Sonali Dastidar. It is advisable to keep a back-up battery because in winter, battery consumption shoots up.

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Though Delhi doesn’t have snowfall, one of biggest hazards faced by drivers here is smog. And the recent Diwali night showed what to expect in the coming days. "It becomes impossible to drive through smog," says Joy Das, a Noida-based BPO executive. "Once we just stopped the car on the ITO bridge," adds his colleague Ronit Shekhar.



"We couldn’t see anything ahead and it was actually scary to drive." In such a case, the only help can be the piercing yellow fog-lights. The windscreens, too, need to be absolutely clean. As windows are all rolled up, vapour forms easily and can it decreases visibility. Also, the vapour outside makes a thick layer of dust settle in quickly. So gear up for the tricky weather and drive safe!