Do you leave your car in gear?

I was taught to drive in 1952 at the Cheshire Police Driving School. From this date I have always parked my car with the handbrake on and the car in gear. On hills I always additionally turn the steering out on inclines and in on declines to encourage the car to roll into the car should the handbrake system fail. In November 2008 I became a member of the Institute of Advance Motorists where the same practices are used. Common sense dictates that this is a sensible practice.

I once had to summon assistance when parked on a flat surface, because after a few days the handbrake had became jammed on, presumably due to the effect of salt or rust. Since then I always leave my car in gear and the handbrake off. Handbrakes are for hills.

Interesting one this. I always leave my car parked in gear as well as the handbrake on. This is partly
because with age (I’m seventysix) sometimes comes absentmindedness. So leaving the car in gear is
a bit of insurance so to speak. Also when one thinks of being parked on the flat it can actually be a slight
incline. Agree with the article’s comments about parking on a hill – I have always observed this in fifty
odd years of driving.

I have always parked my car in gear wherever it is ever since an unfortunate occurrence many years ago. At the time I owned a Citroen BX Estate car and one evening it was parked in a school yard whilst my wife and I attended a WEA evening course. During this time the hydro pneumatic suspension settled at the rear (not an unusual occurrence) altering the angle of the car and loosening the handbrake and the car had rolled across the school yard and into the rear wing of a Citroen 2CV denting it. No damage was done to my car but I had to pay for the repair to the 2CV.

WalterF,
Buy an automatic, you don’t need a handbrake.

Why a different gear parking up/down hill?
The engine braking is the same in both.
Throw back to the age of magnetos?

Always leave my car in gear. Had RAC out 3 times for faulty electronic hand brake on my Passat estate (in garage 5 times and cost hundreds of £ to fix). will not get another car with electronic hand brakes if I can help it.

I will leave a car in the appropriate gear when parked on a hill, as I was taught many years ago. However, I have also started to do so on my level drive, because the wheels on my Polo will lock after heavy rain or being washed, to the extent that it can be very difficult to get the car to move.

I see that most comments here are from older drivers who were taught to leave the car in gear and still adhere to this advice. I may also consider myself an older driver (66) and was given this advice but changed my mind when I worked for a garage to get some cash together after leaving university.

The garage concerned had a very flashy showroom with big plate glass windows on two sides, one of which faced the customer car park. During my 12 month sojourn there, this window was replaced several times due to parked cars being left in gear and then started up by another driver and going straight through the plate glass window – very spectacular but expensive!!

As a result I NEVER leave my car in gear. On the flat I just apply the handbrake. On a steep hill, I turn the wheels into the kerb as well. As for starting the car in neutral or depressing the clutch, I’ve replaced more clutch release bearings than starter motors in my 50 years of car ownership!

However if leaving the car in a garage for an extended period, the hand brake should be left off to prevent it seizing and the car left in first gear or with the wheels chocked to prevent movement.

I have owned my automatic Merc for 8 years and was advised by the car salesman that using my handbrake was unnecessary! Therefore I can count on my one hand the times the handbrake has been used, with no detrimental effect to the car or me! My wife now does the same in her VW Polo.

The answer is yes I do leave my car in gear.

The first vehicle I own was a mini van back in the 70s, the handbrake wasn’t very good that’s why is the parking Gear.

I’ve always parked in gear ever since my first vehicle.

This did pay off one day when my son decided to use my car when I was on holiday.

Although he put the car exactly the same position on the drive where I left it, but he did not put it in gear that’s how I knew you use the car.

Always leave the car in gear when you park. I’m sure I was taught to drive this way (I’m one of the older ones). My wife’s car rolled off the drive one day as the breaks cooled. Luckily it did no hit anything. Now she leaves the car in gear. My son’s girlfriends brand new Polo rolled down the road, across a main road and smashed into another car after 15 minutes out side our house. She was devastated as it was her first new car and first insurance claim. She was not taught to leave the car in gear, but she does now. Driving instructors need to ensure that best practice is followed!

I wonder if the problem is largely due to drivers not putting on the handbrake firmly when parking on hills.

I tend to leave my car in gear, especially on any sort of slope (I hate wrenching the handbrake up!). And I ALWAYS leave it in gear, with the handbrake off, if there is an overnight frost forecast.

If parking on a hill, always in gear, and the handbrake on. On the flat, probably in neutral with the handbrake on. When parking in the garage, or long term parking in the open, in gear and handbrake off, to prevent the shoes or pads rusting on to the drums or discs.
Honest John of the Daily Telegraph has reported that modern handbrakes can relax after the car has cooled down from a run, allowing it to move some time after parking.
I have known handbrake cables to break.

I drive a Saab 9-5 and always have to put the gearbox into Reverse when parking. If I don’t I can’t remove the key! I once saw a car that had rolled down a grass slope in a cliff-top carpark straight into another car. If it had been left in gear that wouldn’t have happened.

TL;DR the previous comments, but my opinion is this:

First and foremost, *always* *always* *always* depress the clutch and the brake when starting the car. Gear or no gear, there may be a time you’ll think you’re not in gear when you are. So always start the engine with the clutch depressed.

Secondly, I do put my car in gear whenever I’m parked on an incline or decline, no matter the steepness. I did find it hard to remember to put it in reverse or forward depending on the direction faced. Uphill = forward, downhill = backwards, in other words, choose the gear that you would use to move the car uphill from its present position.

Again as a 60 year old I was taught to park the car in gear and on inclines to turn the wheel so that if the car moved the kerb would help prevent it rolling away. However, I was told not to leave the handbrake on as well, The ‘reason’ for this was that if the car is left overnight the drop in temperature leads to the handbrake cable stretching. A little stretch each night soon leads to a handbrake that won’t hold.

I am missing something here – I thought the space above would allow me to add my vote – there is no available link/ icon whatever – but I must be doing something wrong. In any case I have advised my wife to park in gear – she was a no before now, but I am a definite yes. I thank you for the advice on depressing the clutch on starting up – after driving 50 years , this is a new one on me, but you learn something new every day, even golden oldies like me LOL.

SO, handbrakes are obviously controversial! What about my motorcycle? Very few m/c have a parking brake so IN GEAR is the order of the day. Furthermore, the electrics have an interlock to prevent starting if in gear. Could not car manufacturers consider this relatively simple precaution in an age of electric windows, seats and handbrakes…

The design of hand brakes in the older cars even up to early 80’s were never good at holding car in an incline. Therefore the old generation of people like myself were taught not to rely too much on handbrake only and we had to leave the cars in gear. Hand brakes in modern cars are much better designed. In general, it is good practice to use the gear as an additional precaution regardless of whether you are of the old generation or the young generation.

A neighbour across the street from me which is on a hill learned the hard way after her car came across the street and demolished my garden well she didn’t leave her car in gear with the handbrake on and what do you think happened 2 months later same thing happened only it was a neighbour 3 doors down from me got their garden wall demolished, this tool didn’t learn a lesson the first time , which goes to prove leave your car in gear and make sure handbrake is well applied an expensive lesson she learned as she had to pay for 2 walls to keep her no claims bonus intact.

Would you believe that up to 13% of UK Drivers and Driving Instructors surveyed in 2012 had experienced a vehicle rollaway. 12 out of 20 cases reported in the media resulted in pedestrian fatality and in each case the vehicle was not parked in gear.

Well I am 58 I passed my driving test at 18 and was never taught to leave the car in gear in any circumstances. I do leave my car in gear if I’ve park on a hill, I will start turning the wheels as well as this makes complete sense to me. It seems most people over 60 leave the car in gear, I wonder if this began because cars built 40 years ago were very basic and far more likely to fail. Cars today seem to be far more sophisticated and far less likely to fail. I had a Renault Scenic with an electronic handbrake, it was brilliant so easy to pull off etc. It seems to me it is a matter of choice, if a car is damaged when parked car insurance companies do not ask if it was left in gear (they probably will now).