How To Perform a Car Clinic for Teen Drivers
Tips to consider for your new teen driver.
(originally published on Medium.com, 12-Feb-2025)
Is your teen a new or soon-to-be driver?
Do they feel confident with basic car maintenance and roadside safety?
Teaching teenagers some basic car maintenance and roadside safety tips is valuable to them — even if they don’t have a car or their license yet.
As a fundraiser for my son’s high school, some dads and I got together to put on a car clinic for the new and upcoming teen drivers. It was offered as part of the school’s annual gala silent auction.
Besides raising some money for the school, the teens gained some insight and information as they start driving.
We have done it for the last four years and it’s been a big success.
Many of participants will either have just got their driver’s license or will be starting the process soon. Either way, sharing some basic car information will be helpful.
There is plenty of information on the internet about teen driving tips and things to know. We discussed it and created our version to use in the clinic.
The cover image above is the flyer we used to advertise the clinic at the gala.
Armed with a disclaimer that we were simply four dads with an interest in cars who wanted to share some basics, we shared the following info with them.
Our starting and final message after the clinic was to take what they learn in the car clinic and discuss it with their parents to get their feedback and final direction as it applies to them and their vehicles.
We provided hard copies of the information and emailed PDFs to the parents so both would have the shared information.
The Car Clinic
With four dads, we divided the teens into four groups and we used four cars as different stations to present and discuss four areas:
- Tire Safety
- General Maintenance & Fluids
- Battery
- Roadside Safety
Each station lasted about 15 minutes, so we rotated the groups through each one and did the whole clinic in an hour on a Saturday morning.
If your school has a parking garage, I recommend reserving some space there to be protected from the weather. If not, keep an eye on the weather and plan or reschedule accordingly.
Our Car Clinic Notes
To share the information as concisely as possible, I used screen clips of the information we used.
Unless otherwise noted, all images below are screen shots of the reference info prepared and used by the dads.
Below provides the info for your consideration and use if you want to organize a car clinic for your teen or as a fundraiser for your teen’s high school.
Tire Safety
As part of the Tire Safety station, we gave each teen a tire gauge to start their car maintenance tool set.
Car Clinic Experience in Use: Prepared Teens Changed a Flat Tire!
Two years ago, on a band bus trip for a football playoff game, a parent bringing food to the band bus had a flat tire.
Several of the car clinic alumni sprung into action and changed her tire!
The kids were capable, confident and safe while changing the tire.
Here’s a photo of the action:
Besides the band bus, I know of at least one other instance where the teens helped change a person’s tire on the school campus. The teens were so proud that they could help the lady. You’d have swore they saved puppies from a burning house — their confidence was beaming!
General Maintenance & Fluids
Battery
Roadside Safety
We identified the roadside safety notes as shown below.
It is quite a bit of information. By printing it and using as a handout for the teens to take home, we didn’t just read it line-for-line to them, but discussed the ones we wanted to highlight.
You might be surprised how many teens have questions about what to do if they have an accident — from fender bender to major incident.
Takeaways
Teens are sponges and while they don’t necessarily hear or listen to their parents, they are more open to learn from other adults.
After four years of doing the car clinic as a school fundraiser, it’s become a school tradition.
The above information is available across the internet in various forms and with even more information. The four dads settled on this information with intent to share some important points, but not dilute it by sharing too much. We think it was a good balance.
I’m sharing this with you for two main reasons:
- You can take/adapt this information to discuss with your teen driver or create your own car clinic.
- Remind us all of some basic car safety and maintenance, especially those who don’t open or read their car user’s manual.
Some ‘pro’ tips for you:
- Buy more kolaches and donuts than you think you’ll need. Teenagers can EAT!
- Engage with the teens as each topic is presented to keep them interested. For us, that meant having them handle the equipment (jacks, wrenches, road safety equipment, fluids lids, etc.) and participating (checking fluids, using tire gauges, etc.).
- For every car station topic, make sure to ask the teens if they have any relevant experience on this topic (a flat tire, flat battery, car accident) that they would share. It was nice to see the kids were open to sharing what they experienced and learned. It helped the others see the importance of the discussion.
- Share the hand-outs with the teens and parents so they can discuss how it applies to their teen and their family cars.
- Keep a rolling roster of future car clinic dads as the dads will ‘graduate’ with their seniors to keep the car clinic going. I’m ‘graduating’ this May, but I may continue to help keep the tradition alive if needed. The value to the teens is worth it.
Lastly, thanks to all the Car Clinic Dads who participated to put on the clinic in years past: Jason, Nelson, Tony, Richard & Gavin.
Enjoy Life and Thanks for Reading,
-Jeff
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