When you’re a mom who has to drive her kids to school, basketball practice, and birthday parties, you’re going to be in the car a lot. This means you should think about having the best safety features possible to protect your family, but it doesn’t mean you have to ignore the way your vehicle looks.
While most women often put importance on how to improve their health and well-being, people often assume mothers don’t care about how they look on the road. Sports cars are marketed to men, while minivans and SUVs are targeted toward women with kids.
We want to talk about how these generalizations can be ignored. Moms deserve to look cool and enjoy driving while maintaining a safe environment around them.
Car customizations are an ideal way to make this come to life. We’ll talk about some of the best car features on the market today that most mothers should enjoy and benefit from.
#1 – Car Seats for Kids
Whether you are traveling to Mexico or just to the market down the street, you are always worried about your children’s safety in the car. If you have young kids, it can be quite challenging to figure out how to strap your child in and have them not wriggle out of the seat or unstrap the belt.
Buying a travel car seat is a great addition to your car. Purchasing heavy-duty straps like the RideSafer vest might be more comfortable and less bulky for your kid. They will be more cooperative with you if they can see the purpose behind being buckled in, and ride vests often feel like the safety straps put on people who go to amusement parks with roller coasters.
This might trigger your child’s imagination and make them feel like seat belts are just part of the fun of riding in the car. Vests can be bought for less than $200 depending on the brand.
#2 – Auxiliary Lighting
Also called fog lights, this custom addition to your vehicle will be especially helpful if you are driving a lot after dark. Auxiliary lights can make your vision clearer on the road, they cut through the fog, and they in turn make you a safer driver.
When you are a tired mom who has work, kids to pick up from daycare, and other errands to run, you often have to drive at night to complete all of these responsibilities. If it’s the winter months, fog lights become instrumental in providing extra safety.
While a lot of extra car features make insurance premiums more expensive, fog lighting is one of the add-ons you might get some discounts for. This addition shows your insurer you are a safer driver and you care about improving while you are on the road.
If you get other extraneous items like special paint jobs or spoilers, they often make your insurance go way up. Practical and safe features will do the opposite and perhaps save you a little extra cash each month.
#3 – GPS Monitor
Cell phones make driving much more dangerous than it used to be. Distracted driving is a more relevant problem than ever, but phones often have things on them that serve a useful purpose. One of the best ways to port a functional app from your phone to your car is to buy a GPS system that installs in the car.
This way you don’t have to look down at your phone to find out where you need to go. The big GPS screen in the middle of the car is the best way to glance over and gain your information for your trip.
If you have a new car, GPS is probably already installed. If you have an older car, you should look into installing it to make you more direction-oriented. Moms especially benefit from GPS because they have to drive their kids to all kinds of new places for school and extracurricular activities.
#4 – Cupholders and Other Conveniences
Cupholders are installed in most cars now, but moms often have extra stuff they need in their vehicle when bringing kids along for the ride. For example, kids will make a mess if they don’t have a compartment to put their drinks, food, toys, etc.
If you buy a cupholder that connects to the back of your seat, your child can put their belongings in this headrest compartment instead of handing it to you. This makes driving a lot less stressful when you aren’t concerned with everyone’s stuff around you.
You can also use special cupholders to keep yourself protected from hot drinks. Holding a hot coffee while driving is dangerous, but you don’t want the drink to cool off when you put it in the pre-installed cup holder. Finding a new one that keeps your drink hot or cold with temperature control allows you to enjoy your drinks safely.
#5 – Stereo System
Putting in a premium stereo system is an awesome way to have fun in the car as a mom. If you have kids with you, they enjoy music tremendously. Singing along to the tunes will keep their focus so they aren’t fighting with their siblings or distracting you from what’s happening on the road.
Music is sometimes a distraction, too. Make sure you don’t turn the sound up so loud as to not hear sirens or emergency vehicles out on the road.
If you live in a city where car theft is predominant, stereo systems can increase the risk of getting your car broken into, though. Your insurance might go up with a premium or expensive stereo system. Make sure you lock your doors, park your vehicle in the garage, and take precautions to not get your car stolen with a pricey add-on like a stereo.
You can see how adding features to your car as a mom will make your driving more entertaining, convenient, and hopefully safer. Kids won’t be harassing you to hold items or asking you to create fun for them. GPS and fog lighting will make your trip happen with ease. You won’t get lost or crash in the fog.
Whatever feature you decide to add, make sure you have the money before you make the purchase. People can get a little out of control when shopping for car accessories.
Shawn Laib writes and researches for the auto insurance comparison site, AutoInsurance.org. He wants to help mothers figure out what features will make their cars safer.
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