Winter is a wonderful time of year. There's white snow everywhere, frost on the windows, and you can walk down the street enjoying beautiful natural landscapes while waiting for the New Year. Do people really envision winter this way, and are there those who hate it? It turns out there are such people — drivers. Having owned a car for several years (although there have been times when an old car owned me), I am one of those who don't particularly love winter and would rather it pass quickly. I will try to describe the main headaches that car owners experience in winter.
Winter is a dark time of day. It gets dark quickly and visibility decreases significantly. In the morning and evening, pedestrians are almost invisible. While larger cities have decent lighting, it's quite dangerous to drive on dark streets in smaller towns. Imagine driving on an unlit road, with oncoming cars slightly blinding you, a crosswalk that isn't well-lit, and a person on it without any reflective gear. You probably wouldn't even notice them. Add to this poor weather conditions: fog from a thaw or snowfall. You have to strain your eyesight more. Your eyes tire quickly, and so do you.
Constantly Warming Up the Car. Even the most inexperienced driver knows that in winter, it's necessary to warm up the car. The colder it is outside, the more you need to do this, and the earlier you have to leave home to allow for warming up. You almost always need to maintain a warm temperature inside the car, and initially, to quickly defrost the windows, you have to crank the heater up to near maximum settings.
Be Prepared to Replace Your Wipers After Winter. Some people lift their wipers before heading home for the night, while others do not. In any case, this doesn't always help. Imagine that your windshield is not perfectly clean, and you need to drive urgently; the wipers will regularly glide over ice (or frost) and gradually wear out their rubber blades. If you add in the cases where the antifreeze might freeze, you get the same effect, or perhaps even worse. There are times when heavy snow falls, the car is already warmed up, but the temperature outside is below freezing. In such situations, all the snow melts into water and immediately turns into ice. The wipers, which are already working at their limit, stop clearing the ice in certain spots, and then they gradually become completely covered in ice starting from those problematic areas. Now you have two problems: a heavy snowfall and frozen wipers that can’t do their job. Wipers wear out much faster under such conditions and with such issues, so don't be surprised if you have to replace them in the spring because they no longer handle rain effectively.
The Glass is at Risk. From the previous point, it can be concluded that wipers with ice can indeed scratch the windshield. So, in the worst-case scenario, you may also have to replace the windshield in the spring. Much depends on the area of the scratches and the proximity of the next inspection. Nevertheless, I consider this situation to be extremely rare, but in any case, you should not use boiling water or hot water to clear ice from the glass, as this could lead to needing a replacement much sooner.
Expenses on Antifreeze. In winter, water freezes, making it impossible to use for cleaning the glass. It is necessary to regularly purchase special products throughout the winter, which incurs additional costs.
Fewer Parking Spaces in the Yard. It may not be obvious, but it's true. In winter, snowplows are not always able to remove snow from the roads, sidewalks, and yards. Moreover, no one removes snow from the yards at all. Snowplows simply compact the snow into certain corners where it won't obstruct walking too much, thereby taking up extra parking spaces.
Dangerous Roads. This is the most obvious point that doesn't require much explanation. In winter, there can be both ice and a thick layer of snow, leading to the formation of deep ruts. In this case, it's hard to say which is more dangerous, as both ice and ruts can make a vehicle completely uncontrollable.
Expenses for Winter Tires. This point is also obvious and doesn't need detailed explanation. It's not worth saving on tires, as it affects both road safety and fuel consumption. After purchasing tires, you also need to visit a service station to have them installed, unless you have the tools and skills to do it yourself. Additionally, it's not recommended to drive on alloy wheels in winter, so you may also need to buy rims, which adds to the expenses.
Faster Corrosion of the Body. To prevent the roads from being slippery, municipal services often spread various materials on them. Probably the most harmless of these is sand, but when it comes to chemical substances, their effects, while helping to keep the roads in order, can be detrimental to the vehicle's body.
Diesel in Winter. Another negative factor of winter is the inability to use diesel vehicles in severe frost. Of course, there can be individual exceptions: a well-maintained vehicle that sleeps in a garage, or the addition of antifreeze additives to the diesel fuel. This is more of an ideal combination against extreme cold (let's say, below -15 degrees Celsius), but when considering diesel vehicles as a whole, many of which are parked outside, the situation is quite different. Many of them struggle to start in severe frost.
Constant Cleaning of the Car. This point applies to cars without a garage, and it's one of those things that really annoys me in winter. You almost always have to regularly clear the car of snow. You need to remove it from the roof. And yes, this is necessary, even though there are always individuals who create a snow mohawk on their roofs and hit the road, and sooner or later that mohawk falls onto the next car. Besides the roof, you also need to clear the hood and all (or almost all) windows. Often, the snow simply cannot be removed because the bottom layer is not snow but ice. This happens when, after a long drive and with a warmed-up car, you park and it starts (or continues) to snow outside. The first layers of snow melt upon contact with the body (the roof), but due to the negative temperatures, they turn into ice. As a result, you end up with a car buried in snow, along with a layer of ice.
You can break door handles. There's a joke about this: "Does your car start at -20? My car doesn't even open at -20." While it may sound humorous, for many, it's no joke at all. Here, I'm not even considering older cars where you have to insert a key into the door lock to open it. This can also apply to brand new vehicles. When unlocking the door, it can be extremely difficult to open it. The opening should happen smoothly, which includes pressing the handle. It requires a gentle press followed by a slow opening. I have witnessed several times how, due to a simple (somewhat sharp) grip on the handle in freezing weather after the car has been parked for a long time, the handle would stop working, and it would be necessary to remove the entire door panel to get the mechanism back into working condition.
Battery Problems. This is another common issue that doesn’t require much explanation. If you have a weak battery under the hood that was sufficient to crank the starter in the summer, you might find yourself with a completely non-functional battery in winter. So, invest in a good battery for the winter if you don’t want to remove it every night and take it home.
Problems with Folding Mirrors. This point applies not only to mirrors but also to movable mechanisms in general, such as headlights in some models. When the car is parked in a garage or a parking lot, these mechanisms usually fold in. In the case of mirrors, this is done to save a few centimeters of space next to the car and to allow for more freedom of movement around it. In winter, frequent manipulation of these mechanisms can cause them to malfunction, so it’s better to disable them altogether.
Adjusting Driving Style. Winter requires a complete adjustment of your driving style. This is particularly noticeable in the first month of winter when all road users tend to drive significantly slower and more carefully, especially during snowfall. However, this may not necessarily be due to a deliberate shift to a winter driving style; it could also be because not everyone has had the chance to switch to winter tires yet. In any case, winter often demands a different and more cautious approach to driving. For example, it's advisable to avoid coasting in neutral if you drive a manual transmission, and to reduce speed well in advance before entering a turn to avoid skidding, among other things.
Increased Travel Time Compared to Summer. Many of the points mentioned above significantly increase travel time. A large portion of this is taken up by cleaning and warming up the car, which can sometimes take 15-20 minutes. Additionally, as noted in the previous point, the roads themselves can also take significantly longer to navigate, especially if you are dealing with poorly cleared roads outside the city.
Increased Fuel Consumption. The previous points lead to higher fuel consumption. During the dark hours of the day (morning and evening), it is necessary to keep the headlights on, and as we know, energy does not come from nowhere. Everything comes at a cost, and that cost is paid in fuel. Additionally, the use of the heater contributes to this consumption. Furthermore, we shouldn’t forget that even while warming up the car, it consumes fuel, albeit a small amount. However, if this is done every day (for example, before heading to work and before returning home), the cumulative fuel consumption over 3-4 months can become significant.
Environmental Impact. Imagine that those who drive to work in large cities during winter, which includes thousands, if not tens of thousands of vehicles, need at least 10 minutes to warm up their cars before heading to work and before returning home. Moreover, to prevent a poorly warmed-up car from stalling in the cold at a traffic light, more effort is required, necessitating a heavier press on the gas pedal, which in turn leads to a greater release of harmful gases from the exhaust.
Potholes on the Roads. In summer, due to the heat, especially on federal and international roads with heavy truck traffic, mini speed bumps can form from melted asphalt. In winter, however, potholes develop due to chemical treatments. While this issue may be less noticeable in the city, the situation on major roads can become quite poor as spring approaches. Add to this the dark hours of the day when visibility is significantly reduced, and a driver's reaction time is slower when trying to avoid a pothole, and you will definitely not be pleased with winter.
Be Careful with the Suspension. Metal contracts in the cold and expands in the heat. Even a material like iron can fail in winter if not handled carefully while driving. Therefore, it’s important not to slam on the brakes or jerk the steering wheel suddenly. This can lead not only to skidding but also to the simple breakdown of parts. Additionally, consider the previous point: for example, if you hit a large pothole at high speed several times, you may significantly accelerate the need for suspension repairs.
Poor Visibility of Road Markings. Road markings are most often refreshed closer to summer or even during the summer. In winter, due to various chemical treatments or simply because they have served their purpose, road markings are extremely hard to see. Imagine you are driving while it is snowing, and the snowplows have not cleared your road. In such a case, the already barely visible markings become completely invisible, and you have to visually divide the road into sections and intuitively stick to that division.
From all the points mentioned above, it is evident that the costs associated with driving in winter significantly increase. This applies to both financial expenses and personal time expenditures. Some financial costs in winter may go unnoticed and only become apparent months after winter ends, or even years later. In any case, winter is the perfect time to slowly but surely damage your vehicle. That said, I am not suggesting that you should park your car and not drive it at all during winter; doing so would only lead to faster deterioration.
I hope my points will make you reconsider your perspective on winter. Of course, if you do not have a driver's license and your mode of transportation is a sled, you are unlikely to experience all the problems or even think about them at all. But if you already have a car or are planning to acquire one, I hope my points were helpful and informative.
