You love your car, and it loves you too.
It’s just that the expenses between you two that isn’t comforting.
Yes, if you have a car, you’ll have to bear expenses. If such expenditure comes in less amounts, then not only do you start loving your vehicle more; but your weekends also start to explore long drive trips and barbeque camps.
But, on the weekends and, of course, you stay a little bit unhappier because car costs are skyrocketing these days. It is pretty troublesome to keep up with it when you’ve got other expenses to worry about.
According to a recent study in the UK, an average family has to spend 1,100 pounds in a year to provide for the whole car expense. That’s not just the fuel costs, though. It takes in all sorts of car maintenance, from fuels to insurances and whatnot.
So, what do you need to do?
Just reduce the costs (da…!) using your brain!
And only for that reason, does this blog has been written down. Let’s end the pain of high car costs just with some healthy driving tips and additional ideas on car maintenance and car financing.
Save Money with Your Cars This Time
Cars can either be a source of income or a channel for unwanted expenses. We browse through hundreds of ideas to save on our phone or laptops or electricity bills, but we might miss out on checking efficient car maintenance tricks because…
…well, we’re too busy working!
But this doesn’t have to be this way. You have car insurance or personal loans, a few of the effective backups. More options are still available once you search and look for car finance with bad credit and no deposit.
You can also do some more to make sure your car offers you some extra cash at the end of the month.
To do that, go through the following points:
- Let’s be careful about fuel
- Buy tyres wisely and check them
- Be gentle with the accelerator
- What can you do with car financing?
- Look for cheap parking spots
- Claim for pothole damage
- Please don’t stuff your car
- Use road sense
- Consider Alternatives (Sometimes)
- Why don’t you take an advanced driving lesson?
Let’s Be Careful about Fuel
There are many things to consider here.
So, read carefully.
Firstly, you don’t want premium fuels to run your car. Although the advertisements are convincing that you can get more fuel efficiency with them gaining more mileage in less fuel and keeping your car parts healthy and smiling, it is primarily a myth…
…unless…
…you are driving a performance vehicle like a sports car for a special cause like professional racing.
These efficient fuels have high Octane and high Cetane for petrol and diesel, respectively, and they do not produce any special ‘fuel efficient’ effects to a general vehicle.
That doesn’t mean you need to purchase low quality fuel. Just buy the popular one. Find it out yourself if it is giving you the value for money.
Secondly, try to run your vehicle, filling your tank to the middle with fuel. It is because fuel is heavy, and a full tank might increase the pressure on your car to accelerate. So, it will burn more fuel than usual. However, avoid driving in low fuel as well, as it might affect your fuel pump.
Thirdly, look for cashback-card options. They are available in the market for a limited period, and that can aid you in saving some extra costs, and they return you a percentage of the expense for buying fuel.
Buy Tyres Wisely and Check Them
According to the EU Tyre label, tyres coming with the ‘A rating’ have something called the low rolling resistance. The tyres coming under this rating perform worse and provide to CO2 emission and extra fuel consumption.
Say ‘yes’ to premium tyres. Another kind of tyre is called the ‘energy saver’ tyre or the ‘eco’ tyre.
According to research, a 50-pound cost could be minimised a year with these tyres.
But we’re not done yet.
You need to keep your tyres inflated all the time as tyres with low air pressure increase the drag of them with the road, resulting in way more fuel consumption than usual.
If that’s not convincing to you, then know that inflating your tyres also costs you.
But, if you’re careful this way, you might save 3% of your total fuel costs.
And that’s cracking!
What Can You Do with Car Financing
This includes insurance, loans and many more things related to your car.
Don’t get appalled at what the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is telling you. An average person pays 462 pounds a year (about 39 pounds a month) for car insurance.
Make it cheaper.
Check different car insurance plans and find the one that’s offering you three things:
- A cost-effective plan
- Full coverage
- Car breakdown coverage
You may also select Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) policy when your car is insured only when it is on the move.
Your insurers might install a black box (a monitoring device) to track your car’s hits and road and how it is running.
That’s one of the cost-effective plans for car finance in Ireland, and it is quite popular in the country too.
Be Gentle with the Accelerator
Long back, cars needed fuel support to accelerate.
Now, all cars have electronically dedicated devices to handle it on their own, giving you more fuel efficiency…
…unless you screw it up with a forceful push in the accelerator.
Be gentle with it.
Please!
And, don’t push your car to accelerate too when the car is cold.
Your car needs your support.
Find Cheap Parking Spots
Finding cheap parking spots will enable you more in the money-saving mission.
Find the online and educate yourself with quite a number of them and their locations in a city.
One more idea?
Just park your car on the edge of a town or a city. You don’t need to pay for that, at least.
Do Claim for Pothole Damage
Potholes are many, almost 1.7 million in the UK.
That’s too many.
Plus, one in every 10 car damages is caused by these potholes.
And a car owner ends up paying 730 pounds for the expense each year.
But, pothole damage can be claimed only if you’re aware of that and if you’re trying to get that by your efforts.
Nowadays, you get apps to help you with pothole damages as they can send the report of the damage to the concerned authority.
So, you might expect a few pounds and pennies coming your way.
Please Don’t stuff Your Car
Guess the barbeque stand the camping tents are still not removed from the boot, right?
Or did you not remove your kids’ playthings and sports equipment from the roof rack after that Sunday event?
For every 45 kilograms of weight, you lose at least 2% of the fuel.
So, stuffing your car is not being efficient. It is to save some cash.
Check it. Put the unnecessary things away (and put them back where necessary).
Use Road Sense
Every driver’s asset, road sense, is the thing that can make you the King or Queen of the road.
But, you’ve to be that in an affordable way too as things are pretty costly these days.
Do it by saving some money using your car. Avoid heavily trafficked routes where you need to stop and start repetitively. This process increases fuel consumption periodically and, to some extent, damages your car parts as well.
However, if you still get stuck in a jam, do turn the engine off.
And one more thing! You’re a driver and not a racer. Driving in peak times of the day or hurrying to reach a spot increases fuel consumption considerably. It is not at all good for the engine of your vehicle.
Drive gently; stay safe, and help your car earn some extra money for you.
Consider Alternatives
Hold on! You’re saying that you’re reading third and you haven’t purchased your own car yet!
WHY?
Well, purchasing a car isn’t that difficult nowadays. Do you have insufficient money due to the lack of full-time job? Well, approach a direct lender for guaranteed car finance for the unemployed in Ireland and you can pay them back in long repayment periods.
These loans come with low interest rates that you can bear at the end of the month easily. Get the loan now without paperwork and all that clutter. It’s going to be delivered to you within hours.
Anyway, if you’re not owning a car (for now), just go ahead and use rental services. In other cases; you might join car clubs if they are available in your country.
Even if you have a car; then you can rent a car for long drives as that saves your precious vehicle from the wear & tear and other damages coming with long journeys.
Hitting the retailer’s store in the neighbourhood? Well, consider a bike or a walk to the place.
To Conclude: Time for Some Driving Lessons!
While it is true that driving can save you money, it is also true that driving in the wrong way does the exact opposite.
From using accelerators to clutches to turning around perfectly in roundabouts, everything needs a proper method.
And these methods are definitely fuel-efficient because they get the job done without any hassle.
Talk to a driving instructor and learn efficient driving.
And you’ll see your car is rewarding you with not just a good ride but with money.
