We all know that you need the standardcar services each year, but are there ways that you can avoid additional trips to your local mechanic just by driving differently?

Yes there are!

In this article, we're going to look at 5 things you can do while driving to make sure your manual cars perform better for longer.

1. Avoid resting your hand on the gearshift lever or gear stick while driving. The weight of your arm can push the gear stick down far enough to make slight contact with the selector fork. The selector fork is a rotating part that selects the gears. If the stationary gear shift is slightly touching the rotating selector fork both parts can start to wear down.

2. It's good practice to put the car in neutral and take your foot off the clutch when you are stopped at a red light or stop sign. Why do this? The clutch pushes what's called a throw-out bearing, up against a circular spring called a diaphragm spring. Doing this for longer periods of time, such as stopping at red lights can cause undue wear of the throw-out bearing.

3. Avoid using your clutch to stay stationary while going up a hill. There is a tendency to want to find the balance point of the clutch and accelerating at just the right amount to keep the car from rolling backwards while stopping on your way up a hill. you might want to do this to avoid having to do hill starts but doing this causes the friction material on the clutch to wear away.

4. When you want to speed up while in a high gear such as 6th gear, it's better to change down a gear or two, to 5th or 4th gear rather than over accelerating. Not only is it better for the car because you're not overworking the gear, but you have access to more power and acceleration when you do this.

5. Try not to rest your foot on the clutch pedal while you are driving. A lot of us drive with your foot slightly resting on the clutch. This can mean the clutch is slightly engaged and this could wear out the clutch disk and also the throw-out bearing could be slightly engaged and wear more quickly.

These 5 simple things might seem small ... but being aware of them could save money on repairs and ensure your manual car lasts longer.