It’s that time of year where I often receive the panicked phone call from clients: “I crashed the car this morning! No one is hurt, but the car looks totaled.” Many times it is a family’s youthful driver on the way to school or work in the brand new all wheel drive (AWD) car. Often it is an experienced driver. Fact is winter driving is rough – slick, slippery, replete with gigantic potholes, and more.
First, in the cold of winter, all season tires need time to warm up. Until such a time, they are hard blocks of rubber that have limited grip – even if bolted to an AWD car or SUV.
Second – an AWD vehicle with all the safety systems in the world will not prevent a car from sliding out of control in every instance. As I drive down the hilly roads in my Bavarian behemoth of an SUV, I, too, am reminded of this. I had to put my SUV in ‘hill descent’ mode in a 4″ minor snow event the other day or I simply would not have been able to overcome the inertia of our 6,000 lb. SUV on a steep downhill. I digress…
My ultimate point is – I RECOMMEND YOU BUY SNOW TIRES. The nominal investment of $1k for snow tires, studded or non-studded, will transform you winter driving experience. Studded are the best, but are a bit noisy. Non-studded are fantastic as well…they are very soft and pliable, and have thousands of small grooves to grip better. THEY MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. I can personally vouch for Bridgestone Blizzaks. Amazing.
I recommend buying a set of rims and mounting snow tires on them. Easy on, easy off, easy storage. They will also almost pay for themselves as they will double the life of the summer/all seasons your car has on now!
Read here for more: SNOW TIRE INFO
Safe driving, and if you happen to want the best insurance in place should you happen to crash, feel free to contact me for available ‘Finer insurance solutions’.
Victoria
Northington Insurance Group, LLC 