The insurer is hoping to support its policyholders in avoiding becoming stranded during holiday travel.
State Farm is hoping that this holiday season will be easy on its policyholders and has issued winter preparedness tips to its auto insurance policyholders to help them to get where they want to be safely and without finding themselves stranded along the way.
Poor road conditions will happen but being ready for it can make all the difference to safety.
State Farm has issued a list of helpful tips and tools that all drivers should have ready all winter long, particularly when they’re taking on holiday trips in the face of unpredictable road conditions. The insurer is reminding drivers that the glove box, storage compartments and trunk of their vehicles are the perfect places to tuck the items needed for safety and to avoid becoming stranded in bad weather on the side of the road.
These winter preparedness tips are serious business, as State Farm knows, as it watches claims spike at this time every year. According to its news release, almost 1 in 5 of all weather related crashes every year will occur in slushy, snowy or icy pavement.
About 70 percent of the population of the United States lives in parts of the country that will receive at least 5 inches of snow per year. Winter storms and heavy snowfall have already taken place and are expected to occur again throughout the winter. Therefore, State Farm is encouraging motorists to make sure they take the right winter preparedness steps to be ready to travel safely even as the road conditions become less than favorable.
State Farm recommends certain essentials as part of auto winter preparedness all season long.
The insurance company recommends that every driver make sure they have a quality list of roadside hazard items in their car, as well as additional supplies specific to the conditions that could be faced during the wintertime.
Among the roadside hazard items recommended year-round include:
- Tire changing tools
- A spare tire or a doughnut at the very least
- Jumper cables
- Hazard triangles
- A first aid kit
State Farm also recommends taking a moment to clean out the “trunk junk” that builds up over time, and using the newly freed space for emergency essentials that will fit even if the trunk is filled with suitcases and gifts. These include the following:
- Warm hats, scarves, gloves, socks and a thermal blanket
- Chemical hand and foot warmers (that don’t need to be charged)
- A flashlight and extra batteries
- Bright reflective cloth to tie on the car or road flares
- A portable phone charger and appropriate cables to connect to phones (it’s also a good winter preparedness practice to charge all phones before leaving on a road trip).
- An external car battery charger
- Fire extinguisher
- A small snow shovel and ice scraper
- Extra wiper fluid (Bonus winter preparedness tip: check levels before leaving and replace torn wiper blades).
