If you're wondering “how long can a car sit without being driven?” the short answer is you don't want to leave it idle for more than two weeks. Otherwise, you will introduce some major mechanical problems that might cost you thousands of dollars down the road.
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Most people drive their vehicles daily, if not weekly. However, there might be some situations where the vehicle is set aside for a long time. For example, if you switched to working from home or went for online education, you might not drive your vehicle for a good extended time.
Your vehicle's response to setting non-driven for an extended time depends heavily on how long it was set aside. For example, if you left the vehicle without being driven for a couple of days, this shouldn't introduce any mechanical problems. However, if you left it for a couple of months, you have to as the question of how long a car can sit without being driven?
This article provides you with all you need to know about what will happen when you leave your car sit without driving. In addition, it can give you some expectations about the longest period of time where the vehicle can set aside without causing any mechanical problems.
How long can a car sit without being driven?
While the answer depends heavily on your own circumstances, you don't want to let your vehicle sit without being driven for more than two weeks. This way, you prevent dealing with major mechanical problems that could cost you thousands of dollars, if not the entire vehicle, down the road.
Most vehicles like vans and cars or pickup trucks do not set for extended times and usually pass the 11,000 miles every year. However, with all of what's going on with COVID 9 and people working from home with kids studying remotely, vehicles are expected to sit idle for extended times.
While most of us were not prepared for this situation, you can take some precautions and actions to prevent dealing with major damages in your vehicle. For example, you can try to drive your vehicle for at least 10 miles on Hwy roads. This way, the vehicle achieves a certain temperature level, and your engine also gets to certain rounds per minute to keep it alive and prevent major repair costs.
Is it bad not to drive a car for a long time?
As we indicated before, it's not recommended to leave your car idle for more than two weeks. To help you understand how important this information is, let's take a closer look at some of the common outcomes for leaving your vehicle not driven for extended times:
- Batteries losing charge
When you drive your vehicle frequently, you're charging the battery, preventing damaging it. However, keeping the vehicle idle for a long time causes the battery to lose charge and becomes more acceptable for severe battery charge drain. That's why the first thing you'll notice when you leave your car not driven for a long time is difficulty starting. Thus, you might need to jump-start the vehicle to get it moving.
- Tires losing pressure
Vehicle tires are not designed to handle the car's weight from one side, not the other. Imagine when you keep your sedan idle; all this 2500-pound weight will rest on one side of the tire, not the other. Imagine what happens when you leave a larger vehicle like an SUV or a truck?
The longer you keep the vehicle idle, the more you'll see some flat spots on the tires at the side in contact with the ground. These flat spots create some premature damage is, and it might be unsafe to drive a vehicle with certain spots. In addition, you will immediately notice that it's hard to handle the steering, and the vehicle will continuously vibrate for no clear reason.
- Fluids deteriorating
Your vehicle has a long list that keeps it alive. For example, the engine has its own oil and brake, or the air conditioning has different fluids. These fluids are designed to keep moving, and when you leave them, they will deteriorate and not function properly.
When the fluids deteriorate after an extended time, you'll notice that your vehicle will have some difficulty starting, and even if you start it, you might introduce some major damages to several located components like the engine or probably the brakes.
- Fuel going bad
Your vehicle's fuel is not supposed to sit in the tank for more than 30 days. If it does, it will ignite properly and accumulate a lot of deposits that could damage the entire vehicle.
In some scenarios, condensation processes can also negatively impact components surrounding the fuel system that could cost you thousands of dollars to get repaired.
If, for any reason, you left the fuel sitting for more than one day in your tank, you'd better siphon it out instead of using it and risk any undesirable outcomes.
- Living things moving in
When you leave your car sitting idle for a long time, you create a perfect environment for many living creatures to come and move in. Unfortunately, while some of these creatures might not be super harmful to your vehicle, many can damage many of the components.
For example, if the vehicle accumulated many living things with teeth, they can eat the wires, the plastic, and any other component that they could consume. As a result, you will end up with very high repair costs needed, and some of these repairs might require very advanced mechanical skill sets to be detected.
- Other outcomes related to Mother Nature
Finally, when you leave the vehicle idle without anything happening to it from the surroundings, Mother Nature itself might also cause some negative impacts.
For example, continuous exposure to moisture might lead to severe rusts that could damage the entire structural flame in your vehicle. Also, birds’ droppings and other debris or dirt can cause significant damages to the vehicle's external coating that protects it from measure rusts.
How long can a car sit before the engine goes bad?
Since your vehicle's engine is one of the most important components that you need to keep an eye for because it costs thousands of dollars, it's important to understand how long a car can sit before the engine goes bad.
According to experts, if you don't want your engine to go bad, you must not leave your vehicle under vent for more than one month. After that, you can simply just start the car for at least 10 minutes and let it one before turning it off.
Ideally, you are recommended to drive the vehicle at highway speed for at least 10 miles every two weeks to prevent other damages from happening.
What happens to a car that sits for two years?
Two years is a lot of time! It's not rare to deal with all sorts of major mechanical problems after you leave your car sitting idle for two years. For example, your vehicle's battery will most likely run out of charge, and you'll find it hard to start the vehicle.
Also, you will find that all fluids need to be changed, including those with the brake, engine, air conditioning, and other systems.
You will also need to change any fuel because it already deteriorated and got bad, so you can use it to fire the engine.
Finally, you might find many internal connections and different wiring or eat out by surrounding pets or living creatures.
In most scenarios, many people end up selling their cars after they sit for two years because repair costs can be extremely high.
If you are interested in selling this car, you can always reach out to Cash Cars Buyer, who guarantees to buy it and pay you the top dollars despite your car's type or condition.
What do I do with my car if it was not driven for a couple of years?
If you could not drive your car for a couple of years, you would most likely deal with tons of mechanical problems that might be extremely costly to get fixed.
Therefore, to save yourself a lot of time and effort, you'd better sell this car and use its payment toward a better vehicle.
One might ask, who would buy a car that wasn't driven for a couple of years?
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How do I prepare my car for storage?
If you plan to leave your car undriven forth send a time, you can take some precautions to reduce all negative impacts as much as possible.
Here are some of the things that you can do:
- Use some fuel stabilizers. These stabilizers help prevent major deterioration to your vehicle's fuel, and they will also help eliminate deposits and dirt from accumulating.
- Connect your vehicle's battery to a trickle charger. These chargers can be purchased from any auto repair shop and will maintain the charge for a good amount of time to prevent damaging the battery.
- Consider it washing the vehicle. When you wash the car, make sure to drain it and dry it properly to prevent any moisture from accumulating, which could cause some severe rust.
- Add new fluids. As we indicated before, fluids kids deteriorated over time, and it's recommended that you add fresh fluids to allow them to sit for an extended time without getting damaged
- Disconnected the parking brakes. Do not use or engage the parking brakes if you're planning to store your vehicle for a long time because it could damage them.
- Add a cover to prevent any debris or dirt from accumulating on your vehicle's top, which could damage the external coating.
Conclusion
Vehicles are not cheap, and they are one of the biggest investments for many people. Thus, protecting these vehicles and keeping them alive is a must. Despite the different situations that might require leaving the vehicles undriven for extended times, you must perform some actions to prevent major mechanical damages.
In general, automotive experts recommend that you don't leave your vehicle undriven for more than two weeks. Otherwise, you can introduce major issues like batteries draining, tires losing pressure, oil deteriorating, the fuel going bad, etc.
If for any reason, you left your vehicle for an extended time and you ended up with a completely damaged car, it might be the right time now to sell it instead and use its money towards a better vehicle. The good news is that Cash Cars Buyer is one of the few lists companies that guarantee to buy your vehicle even if you didn't drive it for years.
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