Installing winter tires is the single most important safety measure a car owner can do to get ready for the snow, ice and slush.

Mechanics, tire installers, and insurers all agree on the necessity of winter tires, but there is a series of winter maintenance on the engines and other parts of a vehicle that all add up to a safer season.

The first thing to check going into winter is your brakes.

Ian Swaisland, with Rutland Certigard, starts checking customer vehicles as early as October to get ready for winter. “The brakes for safety are obviously something you check every season, we look for brake fluid and the brakes themselves.”

At Certigard, Swaisland and his staff take customer’s vehicles out for a road test and then spend an hour going over all of the operating systems. High on the list of priorities is checking the battery.

“No one wants to be stuck with a car that doesn’t start in cold weather, especially when you are away from home,” says Swaisland.

From a safety perspective, Swaisland and the staff look to make sure the exhaust system is functioning properly, despite environmental considerations, many car owners still prefer to get into a warm vehicle and having a properly functioning exhaust system is important.

Having clean engine oil is important in the winter, it extends the life of your engine, and reduces wear and tear.

Swaisland says clean oil is all about making sure in a cold start up the oil is moving through the engine as quickly as possible. Clean coolant especially also reduces the stress on your vehicle in colder weather.

In addition to checking fluid levels, Swaisland says the start of the winter season is a good time to check the overall suspension in the vehicle. The lights and windshield wipers all need to be in top running order as well.

“Right now, most of my customers have had their winter maintenance done,” says Swaisland. “We find at our shop that a lot of our customers take winter maintenance seriously.”

That is music to Michelle Hargrave’s ears. Hargrave is with ICBC, and the insurance corporation has had its winter maintenance checklist up on its website for a while now.

“Definitely we say winter tires first. Then look to you fluid levels, your brakes, belts and hoses. Often people need to make sure their interior heating and defrost work well.”

Hargrave hopes that people take winter vehicle maintenance and preparation seriously.

“Check your tire pressure and make sure your treads are in good shape. Another thing people often forget is that you can’t use cruise control in the winter or in slippery conditions,” she says.

While the state of your vehicle, “Can certainly be a factor is you are negligent,” says Hargrave. “The biggest thing is always speed relative to conditions. The biggest behavior you can do as a driver is slow down and drive to the conditions. People get going too fast and realize they can’t slow down in time. Remember the speed limit is for ideal conditions.”