The summer holidays see many customers cars used in quite a different fashion to the rest of the year, the short daily office commute or school drop-off with one or two passengers suddenly morphs into an extended road trip with a car loaded with people, packed to the brim with camping gear, roof lack loaded to (and beyond capacity) and the boat or caravan hooked up to the towbar. Expecting the car to do this without some precautionary TLC is asking for trouble.

This provides various opportunities for your business, one could be a simple add-on: an X Point (you fill in the number) pre-holiday check on all vehicles coming through the workshop in November and December – this might have a nominal charge or be complimentary to drive business and customer satisfaction. Another option is to specifically promote pre-holiday servicing/checks in your marketing to get some extra business. There is obvious income from the services or checks themselves, but also from potential repair work such as brake pad replacement, cooling system flushes, air conditioning work, etc.

Some of the things you might include in your check either because they are safety issues or because they cover parts of the car that will be enduring extra loads and use could include:

Cooling system – long trips with heavy traffic and stop start motoring in queues puts a heavy load on cooling systems, add a heavier load or towing into the mix and the system might get critical – cars stopped at the side of the road in holiday queues with the proverbial steam geyser coming out from the engine bay are not an uncommon sight during the summer holiday break. Test for leaks, flush and replace the coolant as required check fan operation and drive belts as a minimum.

Air conditioning – a lot of drivers don’t use their air conditioning over winter as they think it is just for cooling, so there may be operational or smell issues when they start using in summer, so a good opportunity to check the system operation and condition.
Brakes, suspension and steering – with higher loads likely this is a basic safety check, we are fans of a basic spanner check as well to test security of all the key bolts in the suspension (must be from our motorsport and 4WD heritage!)

Tyres – check tyre condition and inflation – most motorists don’t check tyre pressures anywhere often enough, don’t forget the spare as holidays are when it may be needed – finding a flat spare at the side of the road will not make for a happy customer!
Wiper blades – yes, it rains in summer, and a good parts opportunity if they need replacing.

Lights – standard WOF check that all lights work.

Obviously, there is more to check but this outlines some of the key areas to consider to ensure your customers have a happy holiday motoring experience.