No need to point out that we are going through one of the most prolonged and heaviest periods of snow and ice in recent memory!

For some it spells snowball fun and a pleasantly unexpected holiday from work, while for others it's a complete nightmare. The news agenda is dominated by 'traffic chaos' headlines and plenty of people are being forced to drive through conditions that they've never experienced to this extent before.

The snow and extreme cold (we've seen pictures of car temperature gauges showing -10 degrees C) not only make it dangerous to drive, it also means our cars need extra attention to avoid costly damage. So, here are a few tips for staying repair free until the snow abates:

Run the engine daily

Even if you're not going out anywhere - and particularly if you're not using your car for a long period - it's important to make sure the engine isn't freezing itself towards an early, splutter-y death. The easiest thing to do is get out and run it for a few minutes on a daily basis to prevent things seizing up. That's particularly important with older cars.

Check the tyre pressures

The combination of extreme cold and leaving a car standing for days can cause tyre pressures to lower - the air contracts because of the cold. There's also the risk of the rubber itself loosening from the rim of the wheel, which can cause a leak.

Check the tyres before you go out to look for any noticeable change, or if you have a tyre pressure monitor, use that as often as you can, because very low temperatures can sometimes confuse the car's own pressure monitors.

Clear snow and frost in a sensible way

Never, ever, pour a kettle of boiling water over a frosted windscreen to 'quick clear' it. That's basic stuff really, but we've seen it done and it's very likely to crack the glass. At the same time, we can understand how frustrating it is (and cold) scraping the windscreen with your old scraper (or a credit card) first thing in the morning.

Sadly that's the only thing you can do, but of course it helps to have decent antifreeze - aerosol types tend to work better than those with manual pumps. And whatever you do, don't try and clear frost with the windscreen wipers. New blades aren't expensive, but it's a pointless and almost guaranteed way of ruining them. Oh, and don't use your washer jets just after you've cleared the frost - if they work at all, the fluid will freeze on contact with the windscreen and you'll be back to square one. One final tip: clear your lights too, as they're vital to your safety.

Watch for 'invisible potholes'

Freezing conditions exacerbate the pothole problem we seem to have throughout the UK, and it also causes extra issues for drivers. 'Invisible potholes' are so called because they're full of water and therefore very difficult to spot.

Ice and rainwater fill a deep pothole on a darkened road surface, making it easy to drive over unaware. The resulting thump can cause wheel, axle and suspension damage, which can cost a fortune to repair. Incidentally, the type of weather we're having now makes potholes bigger because water settles in the cracks of the road, and then expands as it freezes, opening up more cracks.

Drive safely

An obvious one, but it's very common to get complacent after a few days of ice and snow, and let your speed creep up. It's surprisingly easy to get caught out, particularly during the later days of snowfall that we're in now, where the layer underneath has compacted and turned into ice. We've already seen a couple of low speed sliding incidents on the roads ourselves, and the news is full of images of abandoned cars.

Our advice is to disregard the irritable person tailgating you -drive slowly and as smoothly as possible, and don't be forced into driving faster than you're comfortable with. And avoid driving at all if you can. Make an igloo in the garden instead. Or a snow car.

Mark Nichol

www.carenthusiast.co.uk