Bad driving habits you’ll want to give up

To ourselves, we’re the best driver we know, right? Since the day you drove out the testing centre, holding onto your driver’s license paper ever so tightly like the statue of liberty, it was decided; you are the best driver.

Since then you have most probably picked up on a few bad driving habits but it’s not a biggy, because you haven’t been in a car accident… yet. But what you’ll probably want to change is what is eventually going to come out your pocket: Bad driving habits that are going to cost you.

We’ve summed up 6 bad driving habits you’ll want to stop immediately:

You rest your hand on the gear: There’s no reason to touch the gear stick unless you are changing gears. By resting your hand on the gear, you place weight on the stick, which puts pressure on the transmissions bushings and synchronisers, causing internal wear.

Hoarding junk in your trunk: While to you it may be important to keep a whole lot of spares in your car like; shoes, jackets or stale food. The more your car weighs, the more pressure is placed on your suspension, brake and drivetrain components.

You don’t use your parking break: This causes the weight of your car to rest on something called the parking pawl (it’s an important component of your vehicle), this will eventually cause it to wear out and break, causing major problems like; parking on a hill or making it easier to steal.

You drive with basically no petrol: Filling your car up with minimal petrol does cause damage as modern petrol pumps are cooled down when fuel is put in. So if you only have a little amount of fuel left on a consistent basis, your petrol pump will heat up and wear out faster.

You think revving your engine warms your car up: It doesn’t. Revving your car causes bad wear and tear on your engine, as parts of the engine haven’t been lubricated with oil circulation.

You ride your clutch while waiting at a robot: This is not only a very expensive mistake that you could make, it’s also very damaging. After waiting a significant time, the clutch damages the pressure plate causing them to graze against each other, eventually causing them to wear down to sudden failure.

As much as we all hate to admit it, there are a few times where our driving is less than perfect, that’s why getting motor warranty is just as important as having car insurance, to make up for the mistakes we make when our pockets cant.