If you think you are a good driver, you may want to think again if it means your insurance refuses to pay for a clutch replacement.

Clutches are not cheap, and it is easy to damage them unknowingly through a poor driving habit.

But you can avoid this by learning to stop ‘slipping’ your clutch, especially in stop-start city driving.

For many drivers the term ‘slipping’ may be something new, but as KwaDukuza-based Ahmed’s Student Driver owner, Ahmed Younus points out, clutch slipping is common among new drivers and learners.

A common mistake made by drivers waiting at intersections for the red light to turn green is to ‘shudder’. 

This is when the clutch pedal is slightly pushed in while the car is in first gear, just preventing the car from rolling backward without stalling.

This damages the clutch.

Often, at a stop street on steeper hills, drivers shuffle between the accelerator and clutch pedal as a means of preventing the car from rolling backward or stalling.

Again, this damages the car’s clutch plate.

“When changing gears, remember that your foot must be completely off the accelerator. Only once you have changed gears, and removed your foot from the clutch pedal, should you begin to use the accelerator,” Younus said.

He estimates about 70% of drivers slip the clutch unknowingly.

Auto technician Anton von Allemann of Ballito Car Service Centre said clutch slipping damages the car’s drive system, and that we are all guilty of it.

It can also be caused by simply resting your foot on the clutch while driving.

“It is the worst thing you can do. It wears down the friction material on the plate at an incredible rate. This causes heat friction which eventually burns out the clutch material,” he said.