If you’re planning any long drives this summer – whether for business or pleasure – it’s important to remember that higher temperatures can negatively affect both your vehicle and any passengers travelling with you. Following on from our post Top 5 Tips for Summer Driving, we’ve added some more points to bear in mind.

1. If you don’t have one already, it’s a good idea to put together an emergency kit. In it you might include high visibility jackets (legally required in most countries), a breakdown triangle, a torch, a blanket, a map – but perhaps most importantly, a mobile phone and the contact details of your UK or European breakdown cover provider.

2. Give your engine time to cool off. It can be tempting to ‘get the journey out of the way’, and embark upon a marathon drive in order to get to your destination as soon as possible. But in hot weather this can play havoc with your engine. But as well as risking a breakdown or a trip to the garage, long journeys can be tough on passengers – especially unwanted if you’re going on holiday. Regular breaks are seldom a waste of time.

3. Opening the windows when it’s hot is one of the joys of summer driving, but bear in mind that at speeds of over 50mph, as a general rule of thumb, can cause drag – which can push up your fuel consumption.

Whatever you do, steady, safe driving over moderate distances – with regular breaks, of course – create a recipe for relaxing, pleasant summer driving.