In the winter months, there’s a high probability that you’ll wake up to a freezing morning or two.

Unfortunately, this can sometimes make it difficult to start your car in the cold, often as a result of a flat battery.

While we can’t cast any magic spells to wake your vehicle up after a cold snap, there are a few things you can do to get it going again. Keep reading to discover how to get your vehicle started in cold weather.

Starting the engine

Ideally, you’d complete the following steps before the cold weather hits. However, if you didn’t get a chance, doing them just before you turn on the ignition might still help.

  • Firstly, make sure all the doors are shut to keep the overhead light off.
  • Secondly, turn off all accessories including any tech chargers, radio/stereo, heaters, and lights.

Turn the key to start and hold it for up to 10 seconds

Even if this doesn’t sound promising, don’t force it for any longer than that, as it might reduce any further chances of getting your vehicle going. Here are a few things to remember:

  • If the dashboard lights up at any point, this is a good sign as it means there’s still some charge in the battery.
  • If there’s no sound when trying to start it up and the dashboard fails to light up, we’re sorry to say that it’s probably a flat battery!
  • Or if there’s a ticking noise but the engine doesn’t eventually turn over, there might not be quite enough battery power to start the ignition.

Give your battery a chance to recover for a couple of minutes, then try again

If your vehicle doesn’t start after 10-20 seconds of cranking (turning the key in the ignition) for the second time, stop and wait for a minute or two before attempting to start again.

This gives the battery time to recover, and it will have warmed up a bit. Mostly, it allows the starter motor to cool down.

If the vehicle is almost coming close to starting but seems to struggle, give it a break and try again. If the battery won’t make any effort to turn the engine over, it’s discharged and you’ll have to consider jump-starting it.

Jump starting

Check out our how-to guide on how to jump-start a car for the full steps. However, if you think your battery is leaking, corroded, damaged, making a strange noise after jumping it or there’s smoke coming out of the bonnet, you should head to your nearest Halfords quickly!

Remember, WeFit car batteries from £20, so pop in and see us for a first-class, hassle-free fitting service.

We also offer a FREE 5-Point Car Check where we’ll give your car a good once-over, so you’re ready for whatever winter throws up! Or upgrade to our £15 10-Point Car Check for even greater peace of mind.