When you’re planning a road trip, there’s plenty of exciting things to sort out. Choosing a destination and planning a route that hits all of the landmarks in the area is great fun for the whole family. Unfortunately, there’s also all of the other stuff that you need to think about. You might not be so excited about it, but if you don’t sort out all of the boring stuff, you might find your family road trip ruined. Once you’ve sorted all the fun stuff out, it’s time to get to grips with the nuts and bolts of your road trips plans.

Sort Your Insurance Out

If you don’t have proper insurance, and something goes wrong, your dream family road trip could turn into your worst nightmare. Don’t get complacent and think that, just because you’re a safe driver, you won’t get into an accident. You never know what other drivers are going to do so you can never be too careful. People also neglect it because they think it’s expensive but certain companies can save you hundreds when you get an auto insurance quote. They can offer you no-fault coverage which pays out regardless of who was to blame for the crash. This is the best way to be sure that you are protected whatever the situation. If you don’t get comprehensive insurance, you might find yourself returning from your road trip without a car.

Check Your Tires

When you’re just driving short distances to and from work, or to the grocery store, your tires don’t need to be in tip top shape. If they’re a little worn then it’s not going to cause you too much trouble. However, when you’re on a road trip, you’ll be covering far longer distances. If your tires are a bit worn when you start out, by the time you get halfway through your road trip, they could easily burst. If you haven’t changed them for a while, it might be worth getting a new set. Check the edges for any bulges or tears in the tires and see how much tread is left. If they’re worn, then put a new set on.

Don’t Overpack

A road trip with the whole family needs preparation. You’ll need a huge amount of stuff for the trip but if you go overboard, you’ll put yourselves and your family at risk. Check what the weight limit on your car is and make completely sure that you aren’t going over. If you are, you’ll have to go through and take out any non-essentials. Don’t forget that the weight limit also includes all of the passengers so take that into account when you’re making any calculations.

Brake Pads

A brake failure will put you and your family in huge danger so this is the most important thing that you need to check when preparing the car for a road trip. They might be worn and need replacing and you don’t want to wait until they fail before you find out. There is no room for error when it comes to checking your brake pads so you should take it to a mechanic and have them look at it for you.

Charge The Battery

Regardless of how thoroughly, you’ve checked over the rest of the car, if you let the battery run down, you’ll be stuck. As well as making sure it’s fully charged, you need to make sure it’s in good condition. If the terminals aren’t clean, then there’s a chance that the battery could fail. It’s easily fixed by giving them a clean with a little baking soda and some water.

Get A GPS

No matter how well you’ve planned your route, there’s always the chance that you’ll make a mistake. There’s nothing worse on a road trip than being lost in the middle of nowhere for hours while the kids are complaining in the back. While there are ways to deal with the kids on a road trip, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle if you’re lost. It’ll drive you mad and ruin the whole trip for you. No matter how well you think you’ve planned the route, there is always the chance that you’ve made a mistake. Without a backup, you risk getting lost, so you should always take a good GPS with you. You might not need to use it if you don’t want to, but it’s always best to have it there just in case.

These considerations aren’t exciting, and you might not like dealing with all of this stuff, but if you don’t, it could spoil the entire road trip for the whole family.