How to Protect Your Car from Heat This Summer

As the hot summer weather approached rapidly throughout Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and on Vancouver Island, many Lower Mainland residents are doing their best to stay cool.

However, one thing often forgotten about in the summer sun is our vehicle. We only notice it once the heat starts creating damage. In today’s blog post, we will discuss how to protect your car from heat this summer, both inside and out.

Cash For Cars BC is a professional used vehicle buyer that has been buying cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, hybrids, commercial vehicles, and motorcycles throughout the Lower Mainland since 1998.

And unlike some car buyers, we buy vehicles in ANY condition, from scrap cars to Supercars, we buy them all. And during the summer months, we purchase many vehicles that have interior or exterior damage from the sun. This blog post is from our knowledge and experience.

How Does Sun & Heat Damage Your Vehicle?

As if driving in the Lower Mainland didn’t put your vehicle at risk for damage enough, you have to battle the summer sun when it’s a stifling 40+ degrees Celsius outside. Which is why it is very important to protect your car in any way possible from that beautiful, but powerful, BC sunshine.

Any kind of damage on your car can impact the value that remains in it. And when your vehicle starts depreciating the minute you drive off the dealership parking lot, you want to preserve all that you can going forward.

The damage caused by extreme heat and prolonged sun exposure include:

• Dashboard cracks
• Fading of interior dash, console, and upholstery
• Worsening cracks in the windshield (one tiny crack will quickly spread with heat changes)
• Change in tire pressure (hot expands, cold constricts)
• Fading, cracking, and discolouration of headlight covers
• Fading, peeling, chipping, and cracking of paint
• Stains to upholstery from food or beverage items that were left in the car during extreme heat and then spilled

There are so many different things that can happen when you apply extreme heat. And sun exposure is only truly beneficial to plants and humans when in moderate doses. Which is why it’s so critical to protect your vehicle from the harmful effects of sun and heat this 2025 summer.

How to Protect Your Car from Summer Heat

There are various different steps you can take to minimize or prevent the impact that our Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley hot summer weather has on our vehicles.

While there is no one miracle cure to heat damage on our vehicles, we can definitely be proactive in how we deal with the extreme weather conditions we face here in the Lower Mainland.

Some Tips & Tricks for Protecting Your Car This Summer Include:

1. Park Indoors, Undercover, or in the Shade

This one really goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyways because it’s part of the list. Just like in humans, one of the best ways to prevent sun exposure and the damage that comes from it is to stay out of the sun. However, it is more challenging to avoid sun exposure with a car, than a person.

Living in the Lower Mainland means dealing with extreme heat and what feels like endless sun throughout the summer. And although many of us enjoy it while we’re at the lake or on the beach, our cars take a hit cosmetically because of the extreme sun.

A great way to prevent things like a cracked dashed board, windshield, or painting fading or chipping is to keep your vehicle parked inside your garage, in a carport, in the shade, or place a cover over the car when it’s not being driven regularly.

You can also purchase a sunshade to help keep your dashboard from damage, and to help keep your vehicle cooler during the particularly hot summer months.

2. Use a Sunshade

As we just briefly mentioned a moment ago, one of the best ways to prevent damage to your vehicle’s dashboard and console is by using a sunshade. Because regardless of how much you try to avoid the sun when parking outdoors, the sun is constantly moving, and it always seems to find a way to land on your vehicle’s windshield.

When you apply heat on most plastic or wood surfaces, like your dashboard or console for instance, its composition shifts slightly. Because heat causes things to expand, and with expansion, comes damage.

And in Metro Vancouver, we are faced with rapidly changing weather and temperatures, even during the summer months. So, keeping your vehicle’s interior at a steady temperature ensures limited damage from our climate.

A sunshade helps to regulate temperature, as well as protect direct sun exposure to your vehicle’s interior components. Thus, keeping your vehicle in its best condition, no matter how hot it gets.

3. Use Protectants

Since completely avoiding contact with the sun on a regular basis is virtually impossible, another way we suggest how to protect your car from heat this summer is by using protects on your vehicle.

Protectants can help protect and prolong the life of your vehicle cosmetically. But some protectants, like wax, also help keep rest and corrosion away as well. Because applying a layer between your vehicle and direct heat and sun will help minimize, it not counteracts, the effects the heat has on your car.

When sun and heat sit directly on your windshield, it can damage your dashboard with fading and cracking. When sun sits on your vehicle’s exterior for long periods of time, it can cause your paint to fade, which promotes chipping and peeling. Using products like Armor All and Turtle Wax will help deter any damage caused by the sun.

4. Wash Your Vehicle Regularly

For the majority of us, we only wash our vehicle when there is noticeable dirt on it. During the winter months, there is always mud, snow, slush, and road salt on our vehicle. However, in the summer we are typically only faced with dust and a bit of dirt.

So, despite the good car washing weather, we wash our vehicles less during the summer. And this can actually cause damage to our vehicle’s paint and exterior.

How? Because when our vehicle gets caked with dead bugs, tree sap, bird droppings, dust, and excess washer fluid from washing away bug debris, it then bakes onto our vehicle in the hot summer sun. This causes damage that can result in paint chipping and rust formation.

5. Watch Where You Park

As mentioned earlier, parking in the shade or under cover is a great way to prevent direct sun exposure on your car, and to limit the heat it retains. However, you must also be mindful of where you find that shady place to park. Because a constant go-to for many people is under a shady tree.

While parking under a shady tree can help reduce sun and heat exposure on your vehicle, it comes with other drawbacks. Because tree debris and sap can do a real number on your vehicle.

Tree sap, pine needles, pinecones, and even the wildlife that resides in the tree can all be factors in potential paint damage on your vehicle. And once you leave that shady spot, or when it moves inevitably with the sun, you have then just put that sticky debris into a hot oven to bake… Right on your car.

6. Keep Your Fluids Topped Up

This one may not help keep your vehicle looking its best, but it will help keep it running its best. This is especially important during hot weather, when your vehicle is working hard to keep your cool and run during extreme temperatures.

Naturally, heat causes things to evaporate, and our vehicle’s fluids are one of them. Things like our coolant, washer fluid, brake fluid, oil, and transmission fluid get a workout during the hot Mero Vancouver summer weather. Which is why topping them up and having your mechanic check for any leaks is imperative in preserving your vehicle.

Having a lack of coolant can be a detriment to your engine. Having low washer fluid can leave you with restricted visibility due to debris and dust. And having a lack of oil can cause your engine to seize or even catch fire completely. Which is why fluid monitoring during the summer months is crucial.

Cash for Cars with Heat & Sun Damage

Cash For Cars BC has been buying cars throughout Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and Vancouver Island since 1998. And we have seen vehicles come through our doors in all shapes, sizes, and conditions. We buy vehicles from $100 – $100,000+, from scrap cars to Supercars, we buy them ALL.

During our very busy summer months, one of the trends we notice is that many of the vehicles we purchase have suffered damage either interiorly or exteriorly because of the sun and extreme heat that we face here in the Lower Mainland.

We buy plenty of vehicles that have chipped, cracked, or peeled paint, and are otherwise mechanically sound. We also buy vehicles with cracked dashboards, vehicles with upholstery fading or wear, and everything in between.

So, if your vehicle has been affected by the sun and heat over the years and you’re looking for a buyer that pays the MOST cash, you’ve found it here at Cash For Cars BC. We handle all the paperwork, we come to you, and NOBODY Pays More!

What Types of Vehicles Do We Buy?

Anything and everything, and in virtually any condition. When we say, “from scrap cars to Supercars”, we mean it! Which is why more Lower Mainland residents choose our car buying services over any other.

We Are Always Looking to Purchase:

• Passenger cars
• Sports cars
• Exotic cars
• Imports
• Station wagons
• Trucks
• 4×4’s
• Jeeps
• SUVs
• Crossovers
• Vans
• Hybrids & EVs
• Motorcycles
• Powersport vehicles such as quads, ATVs, UTVs, dirt bikes
• RV’s and campers
• Boats
• Scrap cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans

Call or Text Cash For Cars BC Today!

Our car buying team has extensive experience and knowledge in the car buying industry. We are dedicated to customer service and passionate about paying the MOST cash for cars, regardless of age or condition.

If you’ve been thinking about selling a car, truck, SUV, van, hybrid, or motorcycle in the Lower Mainland, talk to one of our car buyers today. We are happy to answer any questions you might have about our car buying process. Plus, we can usually schedule same day in-person appraisals.

And unlike when you sell your car to a dealership, our car buyers come to you, not you to them. And we provide this service 7 days a week, from 8:00 AM-10:00 PM. We also work on many BC and Canada statutory holidays.

So, if you want to sell your vehicle for the MOST cash and for any reason, sell it to Cash For Cars BC. We handle all the paperwork, we come to you, and NOBODY Pays More!