Five Bad Car Habits That Will Cost You
Bad car habits can put a hole in your pocket if you don’t keep them in check.
As you might imagine, car maintenance is very important because the majority of cars can be relatively fragile if you don’t look after them. Bad car habits tend to be entirely self-inflicted, and therefore can cause vehicle damage that may prove to be expensive. So if you find that your car is beginning to incur problems a touch quicker than you are used to, it maybe it’s due to the way you drive.
Okay… so this post isn’t a dig, or a way to preach about road safety, it’s a legitimate concern, as certain bad car habits can directly cause crashes and accidents. Equally, the following bad car habits are going to put a severe dent in the lifespan of your vehicle.
Bad Car Habits
Dodging Maintenance
If you were to go through life without ever doing any exercise, or looking after your body in any fashion whatsoever, it would no doubt lead to shorter lifespan than normal. Right? Well a car is the exactly same. Delaying going for regular service checks ups and maintenance may turn into one of those bad car habits, meaning that your car will never get its proverbial exercise check up. If you want to avoid this dilemma, you should take your car for a regular service for things like oil and filter replacement, transmission fluids, air filters and replacement brake pads.
Head ups! Your vehicle should have come with a maintenance manual. If you can’t find it, you may be able to pick one up online. Following the advice found in your vehicle manual will help you to create a nice maintenance routine to follow.
Shifting When on the Move
Gear shifting when on the move is a foolish tactic, it’s another one of those bad car habits, it’s costly, and will wear out the transmission fairly quickly. Don’t shift from drive to reverse whilst you are moving as it’s like a kick in the face to the transmission. Too many of these jerks and jabs, and you will eventually need to replace the transmission. In many cases, this can almost be as expensive as buying a new car outright!
Computer Game Driving
Do you tend to drive at the maximum speed possible, only to come to grinding halt at every stop you encounter? If so be prepared to put your car in the scrapper early. This type of driving will accelerate the deterioration of the key parts of your vehicle, it’s again another one of those bad driving habits, and eventually it will leave you with a hulking mess of a vehicle. For a good car life span, take it nice and smooth and don’t make computer game driving a bad car habit.
Ignoring Dash Lights
It’s fairly self-explanatory – if you decide to ignore the clear warnings that your vehicle is giving you, then hands down you will eventually regret it! Bad car habits are not paying attention to dashboard warning lights, they are there for a reason. And if you do come across a legitimate problem, please do yourself a favor and hot foot it down to the local garage or your trusty mechanic to have the problem repaired.
Tire Replacements
Are your tires balding or damaged? Then you need to bite the bullet and get replacements. It might be expensive, but it may cost you more than and “arm and a leg” in the long-term if you decide to just ignore it. Bald tyres are dangerous full stop, and if you live in weather torn areas it’s asking for serious trouble. You’ve been warned, if your tyres are balding pick new ones up as soon as possible or you run the risk of having no car at all!
To health and vehicle happiness,
Your fearless mechanic,
Phil.