10 January 2024 , 04:00
1337
0
Nobody wants to stand out in the cold to defrost their car windscreen, and if you've planned ahead and used items to prevent ice from forming, you won't have to.
Many of us will have woken up this morning with a groan of annoyance as we realised we'd have to leave the house a few minutes earlier than planned to scrape the ice off our windscreens before heading to work or taking the kids to school. And with the cold weather looking to stay for at least the rest of the week, motorists are now looking for solutions that will stop them from having to defrost their car every morning.
Thankfully, there are several options for those looking for preventative measures rather than defrosting hacks, which should all stop the ice from ever having a chance to form on your car - meaning you can spend those precious extra minutes in bed in the morning. From a handy towel trick to a bargain B&M buy and a bizarre vegetable hack, here are some of the frost prevention methods you can try this winter.
Buy a windscreen cover
One of the easiest ways to ensure your windscreen doesn't freeze overnight is to get into the habit of placing an insulated and waterproof cover over it when you park it up for the night.
B&M are selling a windscreen cover for just £9 (b&m)Experts at Wessex Fleet previously explained: "When cold weather comes, many drivers benefit from putting an insulated waterproof cover over their windscreen to prevent ice from building up on the windscreen overnight. It's much more convenient and quicker on a frosty morning to remove a cover than to clear the windscreen, it also reduces the risk of accidental damage caused by the tools used to do so."
Tips to stop windscreen freezing and prevent blades from sticking to window
You can buy windscreen covers from most motoring shops, but B&M are also currently selling an RAC windscreen frost protector for just £9. For just £2.99 you can pick up a thermal windscreen protector from Lidl, while Amazon also stocks a variety of options, with prices most commonly between £6 and £15.
Use the towel hack
If you can't buy a windscreen cover, then there is an alternative solution that offers similar results. In 2021, a woman went viral on TikTok for a video in which she laid a large bath towel over her windscreen and left it there overnight. The towel absorbed the water that would have settled on her windscreen, and when she woke up in the morning, she was greeted with a rock-hard and frozen towel - but a dry windscreen.
Commenters on the video at the time branded the trick "genius", and all you need to make it work is a towel that you don't mind leaving outside. However, we can't guarantee the towel won't blow away in the blustery winds we see in the UK.
Spray your windscreen with vinegar
If you've got some white vinegar in the house, try mixing it into a spray bottle with some water to create a frost-busting solution. Vinegar will not defrost your car once ice has already formed on the glass, but it can prevent frost from forming in the first place, so give your windscreen a quick spritz before you head to bed.
Experts at Lotus Car Rental said that vinegar works as a preventative measure because its freezing point is lower than water's, so water doesn't have the chance to settle and freeze on top of the vinegar. If you need to buy white vinegar, it costs just 35p from Tesco.
Rub a potato over the glass
Yep, you read that right. Cutting a potato in half and rubbing the cut side of the vegetable all over your windscreen can help prevent ice from forming. It works with onions too, but we'd recommend a potato out of the two unless you want your car to smell like a Ploughman's lunch for the whole day.
This one also comes from the experts at Lotus Car Rental, who said the sugar molecules break down the frost as soon as it forms on the glass, meaning you should wake up in the morning to a completely clear windscreen as the veg has done the defrosting work for you. One caveat with this tip, however, is that you might need to wipe down your windscreen in the morning, as the potato - or onion - may have left smear marks that will make it difficult to see.