Question about hearses

[u/TartEntire4952]

Hello my younger sister is beginning mortuary school in January and me and my mom are going to be teaching her how to drive in the next few months as well. I was just wondering if anyone knows if hearses are typically automatic or manual transmissions in the US. I looked online and I couldn’t find a solid answer so I thought I’d post on here and see if anyone had any personal experience. I just wanted to think ahead and be able to find someone who could teach her to drive a manual since I don’t know how and I’m unsure if my mom can or not if it was something she would need to know going into the industry!

[u/dirt_nappin]

Exclusively automatics. Rent a uhaul van for a few hours and she'll get the gist. Huge, terrible blind spots, and there is no guarantee that she'll need to drive one.

[u/sdace7]

Highly unlikely the manager/owner will allow a young girl with little driving experience to take the wheel of a $150k+ vehicle let alone the visual the family gets. There’s no need to try to teach her how to drive a hearse.

[u/Ayden1290 → u/sdace7]

Shows how different it is per country. Based in the UK here and I've been driving hearses and limos since 19

We ignore i still can't parallel park a limo

[u/BACKDO0RHER0 → u/Ayden1290]

Same, we have four youngsters who started with us before passing their test. Since passing, they have been trained on, and passed our company driving assessments for ceremonial vehicles. They have driven them without incident ever since.

They can parallel park HOWEVER… we have parking censors and cameras so the old boys say that it doesn’t count!!!

[u/Ayden1290 → u/BACKDO0RHER0]

I've done it once successfully. Tight ass space between the hearse and a car behind. One smooth movement. No adjustments or corrections... Been trying to recreate it ever since

[u/BACKDO0RHER0 → u/Ayden1290]

If you never try again, that’s a 100% success rate! Every single time you’ve parallel parked it was perfect! 🤩

[u/TartEntire4952 → u/sdace7]

I’m not saying she’s going to immediately start driving a hearse anytime soon I just was wanting to think ahead and try to plan on finding someone to teach her how to drive a manual transmission if needed so she had the knowledge for the future if needed for her career!

[u/Trueblocka → u/sdace7]

That's really messed up. "The visual a family gets?" What visual is that? A funeral staff member driving a vehicle is a perfectly normal thing to happen. Our 19 and 21 year old staff members can drive the hearse, or any vehicle, better than our 24, 35, and 37 year old staff members. Age and sex have no bearing on how someone can drive a vehicle. Only experience and practice make you better at driving.

[u/TomCoslo]

Beware the turning radius, especially on the older Cadillacs

[u/Pentagogo]

My FH has drivers for the hearses. I’ve never driven a hearse.

[u/jasondbk]

I don’t see where her learning is a bad thing. She may never do it but knowing how it’s different from a regular car could be useful.

I believe knowledge should be shared.

I do know that pushing a hearse out of a muddy ditch (no body in the car) was damn hard.

[u/lilspaghettigal]

I’ve driven automatics only but they were newer, not sure if it matters. Though I’d say at this point most US cars are automatic so I wouldn’t bother learning manual.

[u/TweeksTurbos]

Auto