Owning a car is very convenient. You can drive freely without waiting for public transport or walking/biking in bad weather. But it comes at a price. Even after you’ve paid off your car loan (or prepaid the car in full), you still have to contend with auto insurance premiums and maintenance costs. In some cases, you may need expensive repairs or wreck and have to pay a car insurance deductible. My part of the world is currently steeped in winter. Honestly, it feels like 40% of the year here. Like many people who go through harsh winters, I have a little ritual.
Every year around Thanksgiving, I take my car to the garage to have my trusty all-season tires replaced with the winter tires I bought a few years ago. This is a hassle and of course it costs money to go and return. I have to buy tires and now I pay for him to put them on and off twice a year (usually he is in April but here he can have snow until May). is known).
To understand why I’m willing to pay these costs and why you should consider winter tires if you live in a snowy area, read on.
1. Winter tires increase safety while driving
We don’t want to make a blanket statement that winter tires reduce the chance of car crashes on winter days. It is also a safer driver and requires extreme caution when navigating snow and ice. Many people think that a four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive car is enough. These are great features, but winter tires offer something absolutely essential for winter driving. It’s better braking ability. Motortrend tested cars with and without winter tires and found a significant difference in braking distances for cars with winter tires. It’s made from a special rubber compound that stays soft in cold temperatures, and the tread pattern is designed to improve traction in cold, wet conditions.
Unfortunately, putting winter tires on your car won’t improve other people’s driving habits. I have seen people at the wheel doing very unwise things even in the worst road conditions. If you can avoid getting into a car accident thanks to being able to avoid slipping into any obstacles, you won’t have much need to file a car insurance claim.
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2. Can make other tires last longer
If you’re the type of person who enjoys getting their money’s worth out of their purchase (and I bet you are), having winter tires means getting a set for warmer weather. For me, it’s a set of all-season tires that I bought a few years ago when I moved to my current state. I’ve had it in storage over the winter and have yet to replace it.
3. Feel more secure
There’s really no way to put a price tag so you can sleep at night or breathe a little easier when you’re behind the wheel in bad weather. Sometimes you have to live through the 40% of the year when it lasts. Using winter tires made me feel better knowing that I did everything I could to keep both my body and my bank account safe.
Before moving to a place that feels like arctic tundra on winter days, I never thought about buying winter tires. It may not be necessary for people in warmer climates, but if you regularly wreck your snow blower or snow blower and don’t have winter tires, it’s worth considering for all these reasons. increase.
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