broken handbrake - ok to drive?

[Deleted User]

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

So you 100% know that the compression isn't going to leak away (which it will, cylinders aren't perfectly sealed) hence the car will move?

Well I don't know but I've never had any problems parking in gear. Even on steep hills where you can't turn wheels to curb as parking spaces face curb head on.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

adouglasmhor wrote: »

But you are still legaly insured, your insurance is not invalidated as the post I replied to stated. your quoted bit from Admiral even says so.

Erm, which is exactly what I said.

So you won't get 3 points and a fine - where the fine is likely to be £100 or so, but you could get a nice repair bill that the insurance won't cover. Roll into the wrong car in the car park... well, a rear wing repaired by a dealer on a Maserati was £8000 about 5 years ago.

Why would anyone recommend not bothering getting something fixed which makes you liable - and you are going to have to sort out the problems yourself?

I know there are lots of people who drive around taking risks, if someone wants to take the risk, but you need to be really clear what you are risking. Saying you are insured when you potentially become liable for all the damage is misleading.

We don't even know where he lives, he might become liable for craning his car out of a harbour!

colino

I'm sure the OP will have fixed the problem by now, but a bit of old thinking going on here. If I was parking a manual car with a broken handbrake on a hill, sure I'd point the wheels appropriately away from the road if it ran away, but I'd leave it in reverse if pointing up hill and put it in first if pointing downhill. You don't want to be messing about with modern multi-cam, hydraulically adjusted timing gear by spinning them backwards.
Additionally, unless your driving a car with an ultra low compression, lightweight engine (and that is worn out) little danger in cylinder pressure leaking away - it will build up again on the next rotation, if it moves at all.