Source: WNCT
Unless you have been under a rock you would know it’s winter time in North Carolina. To many this means that cold weather and the chance from snow is the highlight of the season. But many North Carolinians know this is the time of the year where North Carolina could get all four seasons in a week. However there is one common thing that people do when it’s cold and that’s to warm up their cars. The million dollar question: how long should you warm up your car?
If you ask around, many believe that the colder it is means the longer you should let your car warm before driving. If you think about it, we never let cars warm up or shall I say cool off in the summer. Although if you have an auto start and you have previously experienced a North Carolina summer then you know how important it is.
According to AAA drivers should only start their cars and allow it to idle for as long as it takes you to fasten your seatbelt. The reason why is because of how oil cycles through your car.
“Driving the car normally and avoiding hard acceleration brings the engine to a warmer temperature faster, and also reduces wear and exhaust emissions,” AAA wrote.
It’s fine to let your car idle a little longer, especially when clearing snow off your car. Remember in North Carolina it is against the law to drive with accumulated snow on your vehicle. It causes a driving hazard when chunks of ice is flying off your vehicle.
The key factor is when we do get snow which is a rare occurrence in itself except for our mountains and for some weird reason Roxboro, North Carolina. We will save that mystery for another day.
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