SAN ANGELO, Texas — With this week’s winter storm in the rearview mirror many people are hopping back in their vehicles and getting on the move.

However, the weather may have not only affected people’s vehicles during the storm, but could continue to affect them if not taken care of.

Owner of Premier Automotive in San Angelo, Julio Vasquez, says “You wear a coat when you go outside, the car doesn’t have that option. So everything it has is under stress, starting harder, your wipers are actually scraping ice instead of water. Your tires, they’re hard.”

This means that the car becomes vulnerable. Vasquez says it is a good idea to check under your vehicle’s hood to ensure all fluids are full and fluid containers didn’t crack.

If you did venture out during the wintery mix, the car’s battery used more energy to crank up enough juice to get the engine running properly and according to AAA, a car battery loses up to a third of it’s power during wintery weather.

Vasquez says, “You need to make sure that if you slid and hit a curb or you went off the road, you check your alignment.”