8 tips for servicing your car after a summer road trip

Long drives can wear down tires past their point of full efficacy and safety, so check the treads once you get home.

As Fred Thomas, Vice President and General Manager for Goodyear Retail explains: "Proper tire depth is an easy way to help maximize safety and performance. There are several ways to check tread depth, including the 'penny test.' Simply insert a penny into your tire's tread groove with Lincoln's head upside down, facing you. If you can see all of Lincoln's head, it's time to replace your tires."

After a long road trip, it's likely you won't use your car as heavily for a period of time, especially if you live in a city and store the vehicle elsewhere.

Adding a fuel stabilizer to the gas tank can help fuel remain fresh and prevent corrosion. If your car is likely to go unused for more than a month following your long drive (or any time) you should use a fuel stabilizer.

Beth Gibson, Experiential Travel Expert with Avis Car Rental says: "Fluids are like blood for your car, and after a long trip they'll be depleted. To keep levels where they should be and ensure your car is in drivable condition for the next time you use it, replenish windshield wiper fluid, and transmission fluid," and so on.

Even if your car isn't due for an oil change for another few months or few hundred miles, it's a good idea to get an oil change after a long trip.

The extended journey will have put more strain than usual on the motor and will have used up a good deal of the oil, especially if your vehicle was towing a trailer or was more heavily laden than normal what with luggage and passengers.

Auto experts recommend you get fresh wiper blades twice a year anyway, but the likely heavy use your windshield wipers saw during a long road trip may necessitate earlier replacement.

Wiper blades usually cost less than $20 and you can install them yourself or have a shop do it, which will likely only charge you for 15 minutes of labor.

You can buy a top quality OBD-II scanner that lets you assess all sorts of systems within your car for less than $45, and using such a scanner might detect an issue before it becomes a big problem, saving you an even costlier repair.

After a long drive, these scanners can check everything from filter quality to engine health, and it can explain what's behind that annoying check engine light.

Jenni Newman, editor-in-chief, Cars.com, says: "You gave your car a work out on that long road trip – now it's time to pay extra attention to how it's driving now that you're back on local roads with slower speed limits. Is there a squeal happening when you hit the brakes or a weird sound coming from the wheel? Give your ride a test drive so that you know what work needs to be done when you take it in for maintenance."