Purchasing a ride-on vehicle is a very exciting time, not only for your kid but for you as well. There are plenty of bells and whistles for adults to play around with as well. However, with all the anticipation building up for its arrival through the mail, it can be easy to forget the essential steps you need to take when the box gets to its destination.

That’s why we’ve created a list of tips for setting up your child’s electric ride-on vehicle. We don’t want anyone to run into any hitches with their new toy, so these guidelines will help you ensure that everything is up to code and ready to go for your kid.

Inspect the Package and Contents Upon Arrival

The first thing you’ll want to do upon delivery is inspect the box for damages. Any dents, tears, or holes on the outside could have caused harm to the interior as well. If you see any of these, be sure to locate where they line up with the product as you pull it out of the box. Those will be the areas you want to check out first, so you’ll know if it got broken during delivery.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to check the rest of the ride-on vehicle. Broken pieces don’t always have corresponding box damage; most of the toy is further into the box and is equally as likely to break. If you come across any affected pieces, be sure to reach out to the company you bought them from immediately so they can remedy the situation before you progress any further.

Read Through the Instructions

Your next course of action is to read through the instructions that are provided. Most of them will be related to steps for the toy’s construction. However, they might have some other important info like warnings and warranty details that you’ll want to know about before getting started.

It’s also a good idea to find the index to see how many of each part you’ll need to put the toy together. Once you find it, you’ll want to catalog all the ones that came in the box. There might be some extra pieces if the item in question is small or easily breakable, but other than that, they should match up perfectly. If they don’t, you’ll once again want to contact the company that you bought the ride-on vehicle from to ask for replacement parts.

Key Things To Look Out For

While most instruction booklets do a great job of explaining how to build these toy vehicles, there are a couple of things that often get overlooked when putting them together that we want to cover.

The first is the battery. For safety reasons, the battery will come unplugged from the rest of the car. That means you’ll need to do a bit of wiring in order to get it running. The instructions should explain this, but if they don’t or aren’t clear enough, there are plenty of YouTube videos that cover this topic.

The other primary instruction that people tend to miss is securing the wheels properly. Most types use a pin to hold the wheel in place. This makes them easy to remove and replace if they ever break down. However, some parents forget to secure them properly, which will lead to them eventually falling off. This could lead to a nasty crash for your kid if they don’t notice that a wheel is loose.

Charging the Battery

Once you finally put everything together, it’s still not quite yet time for the fun to begin. You still need to charge the battery. The length of time you’ll need to leave it on the charger will vary based on the battery’s voltage, but the first charge will always be the longest. Your instruction manual should have the details you’ll need for charging the vehicle properly.

Be sure not to overcharge the battery this time or any following times, though. Doing so will quickly kill the battery, which will lead to you needing to buy a replacement much sooner than you’d like.

Test Certain Features Before Your Child Hops On

Once it’s charged up, you’ll want to test a few things out before you call your child outside to play with their new toy. Obviously, you’ll want to begin by making sure it runs. After that, some important safety features to test include the break, seatbelt, and parental control if your model comes with one.

You’ll also want to make sure all of the extra electronic features are working. For example, our kids’ ATV ride-on comes with an MP3 system, so your kid can listen to tunes as they ride. Other types will have similar features that you’ll want to try out individually to ensure that they’re all working correctly. If you run into any issues during this stage, be sure to refer back to the manual or contact your ride-on provider for more instructions or possible replacement parts.

Teach Your Kid How To Drive It

Once you finish all your tests and resolve any problems, it’s finally time for your kid to get on their new toy and enjoy it. Don’t let them get too ambitious, though. Since they’re still young and this will be their first experience with a car-like vehicle, you’ll need to make sure they understand how the accelerator and brake work. Let them know that they have to remain seated and use the seatbelt whenever they’re moving.

Also, now would be an excellent time to go over the ground rules. Some basic ones would be “no riding in the street” or “no going out of view from the house.” If you don’t want them to do any other certain things while driving around, now would be the time to talk to them about it.

Record Their First Ride

Once all our tips for setting up your child’s electric ride-on vehicle have gotten squared away, it’s time for some fun. While your kid is having a blast with their new toy, we think you should record their first ride, even if you’re not one who normally does such a thing. It will be a pleasant memory to have on your phone. Plus, in the future, your child might want to see how bad they used to be at driving and compare to how well they drive now.