Travelling during the summer inevitably requires getting into a sweltering hot car. While you’ll never be able to completely avoid this inconvenience, a few precautions can help keep your car as cooler, no matter how long it needs to sit outside. With that in mind, here are our favorite tips to make your car as comfortable as possible during the hottest months of the year.

Check Your A/C System

You can employ every hack in the world, but none of them will do much good if your air-conditioning is on the fritz. If you feel like your A/C isn’t performing well, have your local mechanic take a look. To get the most of your A/C, Consumer Reports suggests turning it full blast as soon as you turn on your car, while keeping the back windows open for the first 10 to 20 seconds. That will expel the hot air and cool your car more quickly.

Use Equipment to Beat the Heat

A sunshade or window visor will work wonders to keep the sun from overheating your vehicle. While front-windshield variants are the most common, you can also find shades for your back windows. Other sun-battling items like dash covers offer further protection. Additionally, you can throw a towel over your steering wheel so that you won’t recoil when you touch it. For a little extra breeze, you can keep a solar-powered fan in your glove box.

Park Smartly

Seek out shady parking spots whenever possible. Walking a little farther is a worthy trade-off to return to a comfortable vehicle. When parked, you should make sure that you don’t leave any possessions in the car that could be subject to sun damage. You can also leave your windows slightly cracked to help ventilate your vehicle. If you do this, however, it’s important to make sure that the crack is too small for a hand to fit in and that you don’t have any valuables in the car.

Returning to your car in the summer isn’t ever going to be refreshing, but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Use these techniques to make your summer driving a little more bearable.