By WJEZ staff/WJEZ file photo

Winter weather puts some serious demands on your vehicle, and experts say there are strategies that will give you a fighting chance against Old Man Winter.

Those who don’t have a garage to protect their vehicle can use some off-beat life hacks to keep everything running smoothly, including using hand sanitizer on car keys to prevent them from getting stuck in frozen locks, placing old socks on windshield wiper blades to prevent ice and snow build up, applying cooking spray on the rubber edges of doors and wiping it off to prevent freezing, and using an old credit card or gift card to scrape windows and windshields if no ice scraper is handy.

Of course, car care and emergency experts agree–it’s best to be prepared for winter weather with proper equipment for clearing windows and dealing with other wintertime nuisances.