Finding your car trapped by snow is a real pain. If you don’t know what you are doing, getting your car out of the snow can take forever and you may not even be able to. However if you follow the instructions in this hub then you should find you can get your car out of the snow a lot easier.

1. Before you start the engine you should do a simple check of the exhaust. If there's snow covering it, clear it. This way you won’t get deadly gases from building up inside the car.

2. As a last resort you should put the floor mats in front of the driven tires. The mats will probably be destroyed. These are the front tires on a "front wheel drive" car and the rear tires on a "rear wheel drive" car. In a pinch, you can pull weeds or branches off the side of the road and lay them down for traction. Be very gentle on the accelerator and make sure nobody is standing behind the tires. Sometimes the wheels can make whatever you put down for traction spin out suddenly. If this doesn't work, use one or both of the following two steps.

3. Break up the ice immediately surrounding the tires. Obviously, if you have a shovel, you can dig out the snow; but this article assumes you don't have a shovel handy (or else you wouldn't be stuck, now would you?). Use a screwdriver or any sharp object to break up the ice that's formed below the tires. The rougher surface area will help provide traction.

4. Sprinkle salt, sand, and/or cat litter in front of the driven tires. The salt will help to melt ice, which tends to form when you spin the wheels (and that ice is probably the reason you're stuck). Rock salt is preferable, but table salt will also work if you use a lot of it. The sand and cat litter will provide traction. Also, if you have extra windshield wiper fluid or antifreeze (be carfeful with antifreeze in residential areas, pets like to drink it off the ground and it will poison them) in your car, that can help melt the snow/ice.

5. Straighten the wheels. Turn the steering wheel to straighten the front wheels (as much as possible - limited only by any obstructions such as hydrants, signs, other vehicles, etc.). Wheels that are straight make it much easier for the car to move (getting unstuck) than if they are turned.

6. Use a low gear as you pull out. Gently accelerate until the wheels start to slip, then back up just until the wheels start to slip, and keep doing this back and forth until you have enough room to pull out.

7. Ride the brakes. Usually, one wheel is spinning more than the other because it has less resistance. Pressing the brakes slightly will decrease the spinning and transfer some power to the other wheel so that both wheels are working to pull you out of the snow. [1] If riding the brakes has been done for an extended period of time, the brakes may overheat. This can result in longer than expected stopping distances until they have sufficiently cooled.

8. Let a little air out of the tires. They can grab a little more traction this way.

9. Rock the car. Shifting quickly between forward and reverse can give you more room, but it should be a last resort. The transmission can become overloaded and fail when the momentum is shifted so quickly.

10. Take advantage of front-wheel drive. If you have a front-wheel drive vehicle and the wheels are spinning, turning the wheels in a different direction can give you the extra traction that you need. Remember to accelerate slowly or you will just dig yourself in again.