CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — If you're stuck at home, chances are your vehicle is parked outside or sitting inside your garage.
But how long has it been since you started that engine?
Daniel Pareso, the owner at The Rod Shop, worked on a vehicle Friday that had been sitting idle. He said they have been getting a lot of calls from concerned car owners.
"They’re just wanting us to go through the vehicle to make sure it’s safe to drive." he said. “They’re wanting to make sure their cars are running properly because a lot of them have been sitting for the last two, three weeks. Some longer than that.“
Benjamin Tortorello is the owner and service manager at Island Tire & Automotive.
"We offer service calls. We've had a few customers call us and say 'hey, vehicle won't start.' and there's nothing wrong with the battery, it's just the fact that they haven't started it since all this began," he said. "So we'll go out there and jump start it and take care of it for them. Other than that, we haven't seen any real issues from the vehicle sitting."
He says leaving a car sitting for a few weeks is not an issue but after they sit for a long time, there may be some problems.
“Once the battery reaches that two, three year mark -- they start to decline and they don’t last as long with them sitting but any car once it sits that two, three week period they start to discharge and you lose the voltage that’s stored in it."
“The biggest thing is, every once in awhile -- once a week -- go out there and look it over like you would for a road trip," said Tortorello. "Check your fluids, start the vehicle, check your tire pressure.”
The best thing you can do during this time is take your car for a spin.
"At least once a week, drive it around. Start the car. Drive it 15, 20 minutes and then park it again. Just get everything moving, get all the fluids flowing again. Get that battery charged up and you really shouldn't have any problems."
