Cheaper

Learning to drive in an automatic can be cheaper in the long run

With no clutch control or gear to worry about mastering you can expect to need fewer lessons and have a great chance of passing your driving test first time.

But that's not the only chance you could have of saving a few Euro.

Let's run you through some of the other longterm benefits of driving an automatic car.

Is the Strain on Your Heart Worth the Few Euros Less?

If you are buying a brand-new car, automatic cars may be seen as somewhat more expensive than manual vehicles – usually under one thousand Euros. However, given the safety, convenience, speed and ease-of-use features that come with most new automatics, this may be considered a small price to pay, especially with any new car costing more than five figures!

As any automatic car driver will attest, the extra few hundred is well worth the investment. Remember, there's a great deal more traffic on the roads these days and many more hazards than people experienced who learned years ago. After all, recent studies have shown that drivers of automatic transmission vehicles experience far less stress and reduced heart rates than those in manual cars!

When it comes to second-hand cars, prices for manual transmission and automatic vehicles are about the same. Keep in mind that automatic cars will usually have less maintenance problems, as the engines and transmission will not have been worked as hard as manual vehicles.

Day-to-day maintenance and fuel costs for automatic cars are higher, right?

Again, there is a common misconception that garages will charge more to fix an automatic vehicle. This is just not true. Most garages today are fully equipped to deal with repairing automatics.

Fuel costs for automatics have improved exponentially in recent years. Today drivers may use more petrol in a manual transmission car, simply because the automatic vehicle will change gear for you at the best time. So not only will you be safer in an automatic car, but today’s automatics are so sophisticated that they routinely beat manual vehicles on petrol mileage.

Insurance Considerations

There’s a common misconception that Irish insurance companies charge more to insure automatic vehicles. This is not necessarily true. Insurers use hundreds of rating factors to offer car insurance quotes.

It is common knowledge that the make, model and engine size of your car all make big differences to your quote. A recent study found that the average insurance premium is only slightly higher for automatic cars. This was because of the higher costs of an insurance claim for an automatic, which is probably due to the extra cost of replacing an automatic gearbox, or perhaps because automatics are often higher specification vehicles. Regardless, the average insurance premium difference between manual and automatic vehicles was insignificant.

Also, if you hold a manual driving licence you would only pay, on average, around 5% extra on your insurance if you chose an automatic version of the same car.

While your personal insurance may cost more when you obtain your automatic driving licence, the fact is that more and more Irish drivers are switching to these vehicles, which in time will bring insurance costs into line with today’s manual vehicle licencees. After all, consider that if you lived in America today you would be asked why you would ever want to drive a car with a manual gearbox if you didn’t intend going racing or going off road. Why have that kind of hassle?