Back for the Season: A Snowbird's Car Checklist for The Villages

Your first week back, check the car before you drive it hard: battery, tires, cabin, and paint. If it sat in Florida all summer, look for water spots, dust, and droppings that baked on. If you drove it down I-75, look at the front end in good light for rock chips and bug splatter. Then protect it for the season, so next spring's send-off is a rinse instead of a scrub. Here's the checklist we'd give a neighbor.

If your car sat in Florida all summer

A Florida summer is hard on a parked car, even one in a garage.

• Test the battery before you need it. Heat is tough on batteries, and a car that sat for months can be weak on the first cold start of the season.
• Check the tire pressure. Tires lose air sitting, and the pressure shifts as the temperature drops in the fall.
• Air out the cabin. Run the AC for a while, and look under the floor mats and in the trunk for any musty smell or moisture.
• Look at the paint in good light. Carports and driveways mean sprinkler spots, pollen, bird droppings, and lizard droppings that have been baking in the sun for months.

Don't wipe dry dust or pollen off with a towel. That grit drags across the paint and leaves swirls. Rinse first, then wash gently with a pH-neutral soap and a clean mitt.

If you drove it down I-75

A thousand-plus miles behind trucks leaves its mark on the front end.

• Look for rock chips on the front bumper, the leading edge of the hood, and the mirrors. A chip down to the metal can rust if it's left alone.
• Get the bugs off soon. Bug splatter is acidic, and it etches the clear coat if it sits in the sun. Soak it first, then wipe. Don't scrub.
• Check the windshield for chips and small cracks before the temperature swings make them spread.

Protect it for the season

You're here for the best months of the year, and so is the sun. A few things make the season easier on the car and on you.

A ceramic coating gives the paint a hard, slick layer. Pollen, droppings, and water spots sit on top of it instead of etching in, and washing turns into a rinse and dry. When the car sits again next summer, the dust comes off with a rinse. More on ceramic coating in The Villages.

Ceramic window tint keeps the cabin cooler in the lots at the squares and the rec centers, and blocks 99% of the UV that fades dashboards and leather. Most tint jobs are in by 8 and ready by 4. More on tint in The Villages.

Paint protection film on the front end takes the rock chips on the drive back north in the spring, and every drive down after that. Full Front covers the front bumper, full hood, fenders, mirrors, and headlights, and is ready in about 3 days. More on PPF in The Villages.

If you also keep a golf cart here, we coat golf carts too, so it rinses clean after every trip to Spanish Springs or Brownwood.

Book early in the season

Once everyone is back, the calendar fills up. The earlier in the season you book, the easier it is to get the day you want.

Getting the car to us is easy. We're in Wildwood, right across from Brownwood Paddock Square, Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM. Drop off at 8, and your one-way Uber or Lyft home is covered. Coatings take 1 to 3 days, and film takes 3 to 5.

Before you head north again

If you'd like the work done before the drive home, plan for March or early April so the car isn't in the shop the week you leave. A coating also makes the car easier to store: if someone checks on it while you're away, a rinse keeps it looking good until you're back next fall.