Tips for starting and warming your car on a chilly morning

Tired of starting your mornings by shivering in your cold car? Try these tips from the experts at CarParts.com to keep your car warm and avoid the morning chills that plague too many cold-weather drivers.

Don’t Use the Recirculation Mode - As tempting as it might be to keep all that warm air inside, it actually isn’t a good idea to turn on your A/C system’s recirculation mode. Your breath releases water vapor back into the cabin, and with enough passengers in the cabin, this can cause your windows to fog.

Use the Defrost Mode - Are your windows fogging up? You can always use your A/C system’s defrost mode to fix that. This feature automatically engages your A/C at a high fan speed, directing warm, dry air to get rid of the fog on your windshields and front side windows.

Using the Heater Doesn't Take Fuel - Your engine generates heat as soon as it starts running, which means you’re free to use your heater without using up too much fuel. In fact, leaving your heater turned off would be kind of a waste since all that unused heat ends up dumped through the radiator.

Move the Car - It might seem tempting to sit in your car and wait for your heater to start blasting before driving off, but you’ll actually feel warmer faster if you don’t wait around. Most modern cars typically don’t need to warm up before being driven, but it can take a while to warm up the cabin if you don’t immediately start driving.

Portable Space Heater - A portable space heater might be enough to keep a small garage warm. Space heaters typically rely on convection or radiant heat to increase room temperature. In most cases, a portable space heater will immediately heat up whatever is in its line of sight. It also works best when you’re trying to warm up a room for a short period of time because of how fast it can generate heat.