Everyone has their bad habits. Whether it’s relatively harmless habits like biting your fingernails or potentially deadly ones like smoking cigarettes, some habits come in all shapes and sizes.

When it comes to cars, drivers’ bad habits abound. Many drivers might have a host of bad habits but not even know it. Unfortunately, bad driving habits are not only detrimental to a vehicle, but they could be costing drivers money as well. The following are some of the more common poor habits that, if corrected, can add years to a vehicle’s life and dollars to a driver’s bank account.

Running on Empty

Fuel costs are still considerable, and many drivers try to squeeze every last drop out of their tanks before returning to the filling station. Unfortunately, this is somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory. While it might feel good to get an extra day’s worth of driving out of a tank of gas, the toll that running on empty takes on the rest of the vehicle is a hefty one indeed. The sediment from gasoline settles at the bottom of the gas tank, and when gas levels run low, the car must use the dirtiest gas it has as fuel. As that happens, the sediment that would otherwise remain at the bottom of the tank instead gets into the car’s fuel line and even its engine. The fuel filter likely won’t catch all of this dirt, and the engine will therefore be taxed unnecessarily just so drivers can go an extra day before filling up. In addition, the fuel filter’s life span will shorten, forcing drivers to replace it sooner than they would need to if they simply kept more than the bare minimum intheir gas tank at all times.

Stopping and Starting

For some drivers, such as those who live in cities, constant stopping and starting is unavoidable. For others, however, this stopping and starting needs to be avoided at all costs. Drivers who enjoy accelerating and then quickly stopping between stoplights might like the adrenaline rush such driving provides, but their engines certainly don’t appreciate it. Nor do their wallets. Frequently flooring the gas pedal is wasting expensive gas and putting a heavy strain on the engine. And all those quick stops is taxing the car’s brakes, greatly reducing their life expectancy. Instead of stopping and starting, smoothly accelerate and anticipate stops. The engine will appreciate it and so will your wallet.

Revving the Engine

Fans of the film franchise “Fast and the Furious” might love to rev their engines just like their favorite movie stars. But in real life, such a habit is pointless and potentially very harmful to a vehicle. This is especially true when a vehicle has just been started and the engine hasn’t had the chance to warm up. Revving the engine while it’s still cold means the vehicle’s oil is still down in the oil pan and none of the engine’s parts have yet been lubricated. This is certain to damage the engine significantly, and eventually, if revving is part of a driver’s routine, it is going to force an engine replacement, a costly repair if there ever was one. Let the engine wake up and put an end to pointless revving.

Copy the Story Link