Car Preparation Before You Leave for a Lap of Australia

First things first, please be sure the car you have is a suitable car for towing your caravan or camper. Having a car that is under-rated for the van or camper you are towing is not only illegal, it is also extremely dangerous and happens regularly unfortunately. Once you have the car sorted, here’s some tips before you hit the road for long term family travel.

1. Be sure to do a full service on your vehicle, this includes changing your oil, fuel and air filters, and any gear box and transmission fluids. It’s great to do them all before you head off so you’ll know for certain when they are all due again.
2. Check all drive belts or other belts and change them if necessary, if possible take spares, there’s nothing worse than a broken belt and no supplies close by, they are relatively cheap.
3. Tyres are really important to ensure safety, especially when driving long distances. If you’re due for a change of tyres, it’s probably best just to replace them all around the vehicle.
4. Wheel bearings are also something to get checked before you head off. If you put your car into a mechanic to get a full service before you leave, ask them to check for you.
5. It’s vital that your brakes are in great working order when you’re towing so be sure to make sure you’re brakes are in great working order, if in doubt replace what might need replacing when on the road anyway.

Car Maintenance Tips While Travelling Long Term

Keeping your car healthy during long term travel ins’t too much of a hassle as long as you take the time to keep essential tasks done.

1. Check water levels and oil on a regular basis. Yes this sounds simple enough, but forgetting these things can be disastrous especially if you’re in a remote area.
2. Do regular oil changes. For some cars, especially if they are under the stress of towing will be best suited to changing oil more regularly than otherwise recommended by manufacturers. Many people swear by changing oil every 5,000 or 10,000 kms minimum. It’s not a hard job to do on the road, but please be sure to dispose of oil wastage responsibly and take it to an allocated waste station.
3. Upgrading tyres on the road will be a necessity if you’re travelling long term. Our tyres were fine when we left, but we’re now shopping for new ones. We’re looking at BF Goodrich tyres at tyresales.com.au which is a great website to save money on what can be a pretty big expense.
4. Take some spare parts with you to avoid disaster. We try our best to carry essential belts, wheel bearings, and spare filters with us. These things can all be maintained on the road, and save us needing to go to a mechanic and wait for parts to be ordered.

Most of all, just stay safe, use common sense, treat your vehicle kindly, after all, it’s what keeps you moving and on the road. Major vehicle issues can push people off the road for quite some time, so err on the side of caution and being that little bit extra careful and you should enjoy many long days, weeks, months or years travelling Australia on your big lap.