How to Save Your Car in Cold Temps

If you think the cold is hard on your body, imagine what it's doing to your car. Mechanics say many of the parts under the hood are breaking down thanks to the temps. Monro Breaks and Tires say business has nearly doubled.

Minus three, many of us may see this as a negative, but Jonathan Alois' bottom line is well into the positive. At Monro Autoshop on 27th business is booming.

Jonathan Alois says, "On a typical day I see anywhere from 10-15 cars. With weather like this we are seeing double that count anywhere from 25-30 cars a day."

He's seeing clients like Jeff Schmeling who blew his heater out.

Jeff Schmeling says, "If it's cold and you start running your engine it causes other issues apparently. It's kinda what I did this morning, and here I am at a service garage. And I have to work at one."

Alois says broken heat, window motors, and batteries are the biggest issue during cold weather. He says make sure not to jump your car if your battery is frozen. Follow tip one-- take the battery inside to warm up.

Alois says, "If they're frozen sometimes you want to disconnect them and bring them into the house and defrost them. You can see from the size if they're swollen from cold weather, turning them to ice from the weather."

Next up, skip the drive through, because rolling down the window in cold temps could cost you.

"You might break the cable on it or destroy the motor, don't turn the heat on, give your car time to warm up to operating temperature before you leave."

Also make sure your anti-freeze is fresh, and check your tire pressure. Doing this could save you hundreds of dollars.

If your car does break down make sure to have jumper cables and a warm blanket because it might take awhile for those tow trucks to get out to you.