Tips for long term parking at the airport – and avoiding your auto repair shop
Airport Parking Tips to Avoid the Auto Repair Shop
Most of us have probably parked our car at the airport at one point or another. Sometimes for just a brief trip and sometimes for an extended period of time, while you are whisked away for a long waited vacation. Ok, maybe it was just a business trip. We typically don't think much happens to our cars once they are parked neatly in their spot at the airport long term parking, until something does happen.
Having traveled quite extensively, here are a few hard learned tips that can make the end of your trip as pleasant as your vacation and skip the trip to the local auto repair shop.
1. Write down where you parked and remember where you wrote it down. I don't know anyone who has fun circling around airport parking looking for their car.
2. Park your car so that front of the car faces out. You'll soon see why. Meaning don't just pull into a parking spot, rather back into the parking spot.
3. Disconnect your car battery. If you make frequent long term trips, you might consider having a car battery quick-disconnect terminal installed. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, have your local repair shop install one for you. If you don't, make sure you have jumper cables, and hope you don't arrive to the airport in the middle of the night when it is snowing. It's hard to find somebody to jump your car in those conditions, especially if you parked outside. If you didn't park the front of the car facing out jump starting the car might get tricky. Disconnecting the battery will make your life a lot easier - it's quick to connect back on.
4. Prior to arriving to the airport stop to inflate your car tires fully. No fun coming back to find you have a flat tire because of a small leak in the tire. Now where is that spare again? Hopefully not underneath the car, especially if it still in the winter conditions and it's the middle of the night. You may want to have a can of Fix-A-Flat in the trunk, ready for a temporary tire inflation, just in case you need it. (Be careful during the winter months with a product like Fix-A-Flat - oftentimes you'll need to warm up the can to get it to work properly if it below freezing temperatures.)
5. Is it winter? Make sure you have an ice scraper and a shovel in the car. You might want to pre-position your snow scraper right in the driver's seat so if when you arrive home and it is snowing, your snow scraper will be immediately at your disposal. The decision to improvise by using your new souvenirs as a snow removal device may not be a pleasant one.
Ok, that's it. Go have fun. Enjoy your trip and follow these tips for trouble free return to your car at the airport parking.
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