Bad Habits You Should Avoid When Driving Automatic Vehicles

1.DON’T CRUISE ON NEUTRAL

Many people say that if you’re going down a hill, you should put your car in neutral. That doesn’t make sense to me. Most hills are no more than a half-mile long. How much gas could you really be saving? Secondly, what if you had to pick up speed, that’s an extra half-second you need to switch gears. In addition, you lose control of your car. The only function that’s available is the brake. How good is that when you have a semi-truck coming up at a 100 miles an hour behind you and you need to speed up. Especially, if your panicking, your going to be stepping on the gas and nothing is going to happen.

2.DON’T SWITCH TO “DRIVE” ON “REVERSE”

There are many cases when people are reversing and then they put it on drive immediately while they are backing out. Everyone has been a victim to it but the only thing you are doing is messing up the transmission. If you are in a hurry, take the extra second to come to a complete stop and switch gears. The last thing you want to be doing is to replace a transmission.

3.NOT PUTTING THE EMERGENCY BRAKE ON

When you put your car in park, that doesn’t mean your car is going no where. When you put your car on park, there is a little hook that engages when you put it on park.

But any little tap or bump can break this hook and your car could rolling, especially if you are on a hill. Anywhere there is a small incline, just engage the emergency brake, it’s extra assurance.

4.SWITCHING TO NEUTRAL AT A STOP

Many people believe that switching to neutral at a stop will save you gas. This is completely wrong. In reality, shifting to neutral and then to drive puts more of a strain on your transmission rather just holding your brake. This is true for a manual car, because you don’t wear out the clutch, however this does not apply to automatic vehicles.