It's easy to slip into some bad habits once you've passed your driving test, like driving with one hand on the wheel and 'riding' the gear stick so you can change gear quicker. It's also easy to become quite complacent when we're driving all the time - and when we're complacent we can make costly mistakes. Here, we're going to look at the top three mistakes drivers make that could cost them more than they had bargained for.

Chipped windscreen

If you're driving on a daily basis, it's likely you'll hear one or two stones hit your windscreen as they flick up from the road in front of you. While most of these will simply deflect and cause no damage, some of them can cause tiny chips on the surface of your windscreen.


It can sometimes be pretty hard to see a chip in your windscreen, so it's important to remain vigilant and check for small bumps and cracks carefully. While it may be easier to just forget about it and hope it'll be OK, this could lead to a full windscreen replacement should the chip turn into a crack - which could cost you dear if you don't have sufficient insurance protection.

As a general rule, if you discover a chip in your windscreen, get it seen to immediately. The longer you leave it, the more it could cost you to repair. Simply contact a windscreen repair company and they will usually come out to you and repair your windscreen on site, and often for free. We'd recommend Max and his team at ShatterScreen, as they're great value, but there are many other reputable companies to choose from such as Autoglass and National Windscreens.

Tyre pressures

An area of great complacency is tyre pressures. If you're like many other drivers, the chances are you'll top up your tyres with air and forget to do it again for at least a few months after that.

However, doing this, and failing to monitor your tyre pressures on a regular basis, can quite easily lead to some extra costs you haven't budgeted for.

To name just a few, driving on under-inflated tyres can seriously reduce your car's efficiency, which will cost you much more in petrol/diesel. What's more, you'll risk losing traction and increase the wear on certain areas of your tyres.

You should aim to check your tyre pressures once a month - this way, you can always stay on top of them.

Over-acceleration

Here's one most of us will be guilty of - over-acceleration. It's all too tempting to 'see what we can get' out of our car and push it to go faster, but this is causing unnecessary damage. Acceleration should be gentle and 'natural', rather than aggressive and 'forced'.

If you find yourself reaching the speed limit while all other cars behind you have barely set off yet then you know you're putting your foot down a little too hard.

You'll be using up more fuel, wearing down engine components and risking damage to your gearbox and tyres, all of which could end up costing you.

So to make sure you don't risk damaging your car in this way, just take your time. If you feel you need to rush to get somewhere, you could set off earlier, rather than press your foot down harder.

If you find yourself forking out more than you'd hoped for on your car, take heed of the advice in this article - it could save you some money.

Daniel Dodgson - 11 Feb 2013