Winter Driving Tips

Updated: Sep 16, 2020

This is a guest article written by Chrissy Philips from Concierge Claims Management (CCM) as part of our Four Seasons of Health and Safety campaign.

As winter officially started on the 22nd December 2019 and runs through until 20th March 2020, we need to be mindful that even though many believe that we have had the worst of the weather before Winter had even started back in December, the season starts to show its full force from January through to March... Snow, Black Ice, Heavy Rain, Flooding and much more.

We need to be prepared and remember not to leave everything to the last minute, which let’s face it the majority of us usually do. Here at CCM we wanted to share a few tips and facts to help you through the next few months.

There is nothing worse than waking up late, running around the house and realising your car needs deicing. A handy tip for those cold mornings, set your alarm 10 minutes early, wrap up warm, fill a sandwich bag with lukewarm water, turn on your engine to warm the vehicle up and move the sandwich bag from the top to bottom of the window to clear the ice.

Please do remember though when you have your engine running, under no circumstances leave your car unattended whilst unlocked. This cannot only result in a potential fine from the police but also it could lead to theft and unfortunately in this event your insurance will not cover the vehicle.

Not only have our cars been iced over first thing in the morning, some nights have shown ice to form on our vehicles when leaving work to return home. So, don’t forget to leave your deicer and scrapper in the vehicle for your journey back home.

The Facts:

Braking distance – Rain is double the amount whereas ice is ten times greater than the stopping distance in dry conditions.
You will know if you are driving on ice as the steering will feel lighter & unresponsive.

Here comes the rain…

Manual Vehicles on a flooded road – It is best to stay in first gear keeping the engine revs up and drive very slowly. Do not let the car come to a standstill while crossing floodwater as this could allow water to get into the exhaust pipe, which can cause extensive damage.
All vehicles – only cross floodwater if you can see the road through the water. Apart from potential damage, many vehicles only require two feet of water to float.

Here at CCM we are on hand 24/7 to offer motor claims assistance and answer insurance related queries.

We pride ourselves on the level of Customer Service we provide to our Clients.

A dedicated Claims Handler will deal with a Clients non fault Claim from start to finish:

Assisting with liability.
Arranging repairs to the Clients vehicle at their chosen or manufacture approved repairer.
Organise a like for like replacement vehicle for whilst the Clients vehicle is off the road

All of this is agreed with the third parties insurance where the Client isn’t at fault, as opposed to the claim being processed via the Clients own insurance meaning there is no impact on their:

No claims bonus.
There is no excess to pay.
There is no cost to the Client for our claims management service.

So if you are in the unfortunate event of being in a non-fault accident and need assistance call CCM on 0333 072 0399 or email enquiries@ccm.uk.com and we will be here to help you every step of the way.

Thank you Chrissy for this article. If you want to contribute a guest article like this to our The Four Seasons of Health and Safety campaign, please contact KSH Safety Services. The subject of the article must have a link to one or more of the seasons and to health & safety.