Submitted by Killentyme55 t3_11gldyy in LifeProTips
Many of us just leave the transmission in park and call it good, but it's still important to apply the parking brake every now and then just to keep the mechanism from binding up due to corrosion. It doesn't matter if it's a foot pedal, hand lever or the newer electronic push button (not a fan), it still needs exercise.
On a side note, if you park on a slope it's a good idea to set the parking brake before you release the regular brakes and shift into PARK. This takes the load off the parking pawl in the transmission and makes it easier to shift into DRIVE later.
EDIT: There's a lot of people replying that they thought everyone used the parking brake all the time, I'd like to know if this has anything to do with location. Where I live it's relatively flat so parking on a steep incline isn't very common, I imagine hilly areas are a different story, I also imagine folks outside of the US probably do it differently as standard transmissions are still fairly common in other countries.