FixMyCar offers tips and tricks to keep your car in good shape when it's not in use.
Book a car repair nowEllie Dyer-Brown
Wednesday July 17 2024
9 min read
If you’re going on holiday for an extended period and your car isn’t going with you, you can’t leave it sitting on the driveway and expect it to work normally when you return. The battery might die, the tyres might get flat spots, and the locks and hinges may seize.
That’s why it’s vital to be proactive in preparing and storing your vehicle, preventing problems from developing during periods of disuse. This guide explains how.
Cars are designed to be driven. They don’t do well during long periods of inactivity and can develop several issues, including:
Proper vehicle storage can protect your car from damage, extend its lifespan, and save you money in the long run by preventing the need for costly repairs.
The most important thing to consider when not using your car is the battery’s condition. I highly recommend using a maintenance charger for this reason. Maintenance chargers monitor your battery’s voltage and top it up as needed - perfect if you don’t use your car much.
Matt Wrankmore
Head of FixMyCar's Garage Network
Follow these tips to ensure your vehicle stays in good condition while you’re not using it.
After you’ve switched the engine off, ensure all electrical components, including the radio and lights, are also turned off. It’s easy to forget when you’re in a rush, but leaving them on will drain your battery, making any steps you take to look after it a waste of time.
Get rid of all the nasty chemicals and dirt on the paintwork before storing your car, and apply some wax to finish it off. This final step will give the paint an added layer of protection, which is even more important if you can’t keep it covered while you’re not using it.
It isn’t just the outside that will benefit from some TLC. We also recommend cleaning the interior, but keep things simple - you only need a damp cloth. Many cleaning products contain chemicals meant to let off gases in the sunlight or be wiped off by people getting in and out of the car. You don’t want them hanging around for months at a time.
Remember to remove any rubbish that could cause mould, and never store your vehicle with a damp interior - that’s a recipe for disaster.
Coolant mainly contains non-potable alcohols, which means it lasts well even if unused for a long time. You can top it up without worrying about replacing it when you decide to use your car again.
Coolant not only keeps your engine cool during use but also prevents it from freezing in cold temperatures (hence the name of the concentrated version, antifreeze). If you’re storing your car during winter, it’s essential to make sure there is enough antifreeze in the system to protect it from cold spells.
Avoid topping up your coolant with tap water because it contains dissolved salts that will corrode the radiator. Instead, use a 50/50 mix of coolant concentrate and demineralised water.
If your car’s engine oil hasn’t been changed recently or has a dark appearance when you check the dipstick, now is an excellent time to replace it.
Unfortunately, petrol doesn’t last very well. It's highly volatile, which means it degrades over time, typically only lasting a few months. When we say it degrades, it essentially means that it evaporates, and what’s left in the tank reacts with oxygen (oxidises), creating nasty varnishes and gums that will clog fuel lines, filters and injectors.
So, how do we get around this problem? The answer, surprisingly, is to fill your tank up completely. You should do this for two reasons. First, it leaves less oxygen in the tank, reducing the surface area for oxidation and leaving less space for condensation. Second, because fuel injection components rely on having petrol in them, it prevents them from seizing up and eventually perishing.
Once your tank is full, top it off with a fuel stabiliser to protect it from oxidation and evaporation. Some stabilisers work for up to two years.
Diesel cars are easier to store because the fuel is less refined, which means it lasts much longer. You should be able to keep a tank of diesel for around a year before encountering any problems. However, we still recommend using a stabilising fluid when leaving your car unused for a long time.
After you’ve put the stabiliser in, go for a drive long enough to warm the car up before parking it. By doing this, you’re ensuring there is stable fuel in crucial components like the filter and injectors.
Brake fluid is hygroscopic (it absorbs water). As you can probably imagine, that’s not good news for your brake components as it can cause them to rust.
You have two options. Either change the fluid before you store your car to ensure it’s fresh and the system is free from water, or replace the fluid with a silicone-based alternative that won’t absorb water. However, the system must be flushed before you put a new fluid in.
Tyres lose pressure over time, so if you won’t be using them for a while, pump them up to the recommended pressure for a heavy load. Doing this reduces the risk of flat spots. However, you shouldn’t inflate your tyres beyond the manufacturer’s maximum recommended cold inflation pressure (you can find this information on the sidewall).
Read our ultimate guide to tyre pressure for more advice.
If you’re storing your car for a long time, consider buying specialised mats that spread the vehicle’s weight over a larger area by increasing the tyre’s contact patch. Alternatively, remove the tyres altogether and store the car on jack stands.
The ideal place to store your car while it’s not in use is a garage where it will stay dry, clean and safe. If you have to keep your vehicle on the street, put a weatherproof cover over it to protect it from the elements.
Cars left for a long time become an ideal hiding place for small animals, which can chew through wires or nest in the exhaust. One way to avoid this is to stuff a used rag in the exhaust pipe and any other areas small rodents could get in.
Your battery will lose charge if you don’t use it, eventually going flat after two weeks to a month. Fortunately, you can do a couple of things to avoid this.
Disconnecting the battery is one option, but it’s a lot of hassle because many modern cars require security codes when you reconnect it, and you could lose all your custom settings.
That’s why we recommend buying a battery maintainer instead. It stays attached to the battery and uses an onboard processor to maintain its charge and condition.
Check out our top tips for maintaining your battery.
If it’s been a while since your car was last serviced and you don’t fancy doing maintenance at home, consider booking a full service before you store it away. This will typically include:
Oil filter change
Air filter change
Inspection of the lights, tyres, bodywork and exhaust
Battery check
Safety check of the suspension, brakes and steering
Check of fluids, topping up as needed
Some parts on older vehicles may seize up after long periods of disuse. If you’re worried about this, the best thing to do is put a small amount of lithium white grease on any components that aren’t road-facing but need to swing, pivot or latch. Examples include door locks and bonnet hinges. Lithium white grease is water resistant, which will help prevent parts from rusting and seizing.
When you leave the handbrake on for a long time, it’s liable to seize, so it’s best to put chocks behind the wheels and leave the handbrake off. If you drive an automatic, leave it in park; for a manual, you should leave it in gear.
If you don’t plan on using your car for several months, you should still start it up and let it idle occasionally to keep it in good shape. Here’s what to do:
Disconnect the battery charger.
Open the garage door for ventilation.
Switch the engine on and let it idle for around thirty minutes.
When it gets up to temperature, bring the revs up slowly in park or neutral, and then let them fall again. Keep your left foot on the brake while doing this.
Repeat the process of bringing the revs up a couple of times.
Check that everything functions as it should.
Switch the car off again.
After following the advice in this guide, you shouldn’t have any trouble bringing your car back into regular use. It’s helpful to create a list of everything you did to prepare it so that you remember to do things like taking the rag out of your exhaust pipe.
If you were only away for a few weeks, you probably don’t need to change the fluids before you drive it again. But if your car hasn’t been used for a long time, we’d recommend changing the brake fluid, engine oil and coolant before your first drive and draining and refilling the fuel tank.
The alternator usually charges the battery as you drive, but if you stop using your car, the battery will go flat in two to four weeks.
Yes. Leaving your car in gear prevents unwanted and potentially dangerous movement if the handbrake doesn't work.
Most car batteries will last two to four weeks before they go flat, preventing you from re-starting the engine.
Looking for affordable car repairs or maintenance? FixMyCar can help.
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Ellie is FixMyCar's Content Manager. She has over three years of experience writing about cars and regularly collaborates with automotive experts to provide trustworthy advice for drivers that is easy understand. Her work has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, iNews, The Daily Express and The Sun. She has a BA in English literature and an MA in creative writing from Durham University. Outside of work, Ellie follows F1 and eagerly awaits Ferrari's next era of dominance in the sport. She drives a Suzuki Swift.
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