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Best Driving Habits to Extend the Life of Your Car

image of a mercedes

Treat your car right!

Heavy acceleration, heavy braking, and jerking your car around can have a bad impact on your car’s wear and tear. This aspect indicates the importance of avoiding bad driving habits and replacing them with better driving habits for the longevity of your car.

By The Editors

Sun, May 11, 2025 03:17 AM PST

Start Your Car the Right Way

The first thing to focus on is to start your car the right way. Typically, every morning, you want to jump-start your car and drive off to work straight away. However, this is not a great idea. You should wait some time and let the revs die down. Once the revs die down, you will know that the oil has reached the vital components of the engine, which is why you are pretty much good to go.

Avoid Heavy Acceleration

Another good driving habit is to avoid heavy acceleration. Heavy acceleration will only lead to unnecessary stress on the engine of your car and the transmission. Also, heavy acceleration can cause the tires to wear out faster, especially when the engine is cold and outside of the optimal operating temperature.

It is important to mention here that if the gas pedal makes issues while accelerating, such as inconsistency or delay, you might want to opt for used car parts and replace the gas pedal. Make sure to get original spare parts for your car so you can optimize functionality, durability, and your safety.

Assess the Tire Pressure

Another great habit to incorporate in your life is to assess the tire pressure and ensure that it is correct before driving off. Here is the thing: over- and under-inflating tires not only affect the fuel economy of your car, but they can also seriously affect your car’s maneuverability, which can result in an accident. So, make sure to always use the correct tire pressure.

Check the inside of your car’s door to find the recommended tire pressure.

Take The Dashboard Warning Lights Seriously

Assess your dashboard every day. If you see that the dashboard looks like you have set up a Christmas tree, which is also accompanied by a strange sound or sensation, such as shaking and trembling, then you should take it as a tell-tale sign to visit your car mechanic as soon as possible. Never make the mistake of ignoring your dashboard lights; otherwise, your car’s longevity will definitely be cut short.

Avoid Heavy Braking

Similar to heavy acceleration, you should avoid heavy braking, too, even when operating a flying car in the near future.  Heavy braking can cause premature wear and tear of the car's brake discs and pads. Heavy braking also tends to wear out the shocks faster, which subsequently increases the chances of getting into an accident. You must keep your car’s brakes in perfect order at all times with regular maintenance.

Final Thoughts

Apart from adopting good driving habits, you should follow a strict schedule for regularly servicing your car. The longer you postpone car servicing, the more damage you could be doing to your car, which will cost you so much more in car repairs. If you don’t know when to take your car for servicing, you should check the user manual, as you will find this information there.

This article was compiled by the editors of LACar.

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