Never put your vehicle in neutral when coasting down a hill.
-You lose control of your vehicles speed, you can press the brake and slow down, but your ability to accelerate if necessary is taken away.
-It might be illegal. It is illegal in 15 states to put your car in neutral when coasting down a hill. Some of the states in which it is illegal to coast down a hill in neutral are; Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, and Michigan.
Come to a complete stop before switching from drive to reverse or from reverse to drive.
-In doing so, you are using your brakes to stop a car rather than your transmission. Your brakes are designed to stop your vehicle when your transmission is intended to shift gears. If you were to just switch from reverse to drive without coming to a complete stop, you could damage your transmission which can lead to costly repairs as opposed to getting your breaks changed.
Don’t rev your engine in neutral and switch your transmission into drive.
Doing so will put a strain on the bands and clutches of your transmission which can be a very costly repair. Instead, with your car in park, put your foot on the brake, switch your gear into drive and slowly release the break, this will put little pressure on your transmission, which over time, will keep your vehicle out of the shop and keep it on the road.
Don’t put your car in neutral when sitting at a stop light.
You may think you are relieving stress on your transmission when you place your vehicle in neutral at a stop light. Or you may believe that you are saving fuel. However, the reality of the matter is that you put more stress on your transmission when the vehicle is in drive compared to when you are idle. So, when you put the vehicle back into drive and accelerate there is more stress on the transmission than if you were to just keep the transmission in drive. Also there isn’t a big fuel economy difference. The average car burns about .0025 gallons of gas every 30 seconds when sitting at a stop light.
