With the lockdown still in place in many parts of the country, here are a few tips by Tata Motors

For those who revel in the daily mundane practice of following routines, the current requirement of staying put during lockdown is testing limits of restricted physical space as well as mental adaptation of limited mobility. Given the circumstances, staying home has been deemed a best practice, and the longer one follows lockdown guidelines, the hope is one has done their bit in staying safe.

Depending on city, zone and order of industry, a fraction of white collar job folks have resumed work having adjusted days of work, and safety protocols to be maintained at the work place. But not everyone’s going back to work just as yet, and that brings us to the pressing need of car maintenance for vehicle owners.

Tata Motors says to keep the battery charged, the car should be started once a week. Doing so ensures the battery doesn’t exhaust itself. So, even if you think you’re doing enough by running a cover over your vehicle, you can’t quite forget about it, and need to work on it every now and then to keep it running smooth.

Another fore that’s come to the front at this time is parking cars on the road. This is a practice many have to resort too since they have no designated parking spot at their residential address. Tata Motors’ says, ‘the car should be parked in a safe spot in the house or building premises.’

For long this has been a topic of discussion but nothing has come of it. There have been proposals on capping the number of cars a family could buy in proportion to parking spots they own, but the proposal hasn’t been backed by policy.

In ensuring functionality of internal components, using a tyre stopper or putting the car in gear is being suggested as more efficient in terms of parking the car than using the handbrake. The latter can jam the brake if engaged in car park position over a prolonged period of time. An easy way to avoid tyre flat spots is to regularly drive the car back and forth to keep changing tyre position when parked. This will help prevent tyre balding of the same spots on each tyre.

To keep up with changing weather, the fuel tank should be kept topped up so as to avoid moisture from settling in. There are also tips of sanitising the car but this is a bit daft at this point. If one has ownership of a car and has basically managed to get away without regularly vacuuming it, and wiping down seats, then a crisis may not be enough to propel one to change personal hygiene habits. To each his own.