It’s that time of year again! The weather is beginning to warm up, the birds are chirping and the summer driving season is drawing closer. However, as the amount of driving you do increases over the summer, so does the potential chance of having to make repairs to your vehicle.

If you perform a few checks now before the summer starts, you could potentially save yourself a significant amount of money on last-minute repairs later this summer! Here are a few parts of your vehicle that you should be sure to examine:

• Tires. Your tires should be properly inflated and not overly worn down. Under-inflated and worn down tires can be a safety hazard, and can also decrease your fuel economy, which means you’d wind up paying even more for gas!

• Fluid levels. Coolants and windshield washer fluids should be at their proper levels. They might have depleted over the winter months!

• Air filter. If you have a dirty vehicle, it could harm your engine’s performance standards and your fuel economy.

• Oil. You need to make an oil change every three months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first. This will prevent you from doing any avoidable damage to your engine.

• Wiper blades. Check to make sure that your windshield and rear wiper blades are functioning properly. If they aren’t they could do damage to your glass, and new windshields cost quite a bit of money!

• Vehicle body. If your vehicle has picked up a lot of dirt or salt over the winter, be sure to wash it off. If you leave it on for too long it could hurt your paint job, which diminishes the car’s value.

• Spark plugs. Regular checks of your spark plugs are extremely important. While they tend to last a very long time, you should at least give them a quick inspection to make sure that they’re in proper working order.

These few steps are extremely important for your vehicle as you head into the summer months. Don’t find yourself at the mechanic in July paying extra money for problems with your car that you could have avoided!