Your Car Doesn’t Have To Cost You The Earth

Running a car doesn’t come cheap, and you just have to accept that, or do you? Just because cars aren’t the cheapest things to run, that’s not to say that you can’t be smart about how you run your car and find little ways to make it cheaper to keep your car on the road. Because the fact is, you can – it’s just a case of thinking outside of the box, that’s all. To give you a helping hand, below are some tips and suggestions for making your car cheaper to run, saving yourself a lot of money.

Make maintenance a priority

When it comes to ensuring that your car doesn’t cost you the earth to run, one of the most important things to do is make maintenance a priority. A lot of car owners make the catastrophic mistake of putting off car maintenance, believing that it’s a waste of money and it’s better to wait until something actually goes wrong. However, once your car breaks down, that means that any problems are going to be more difficult to deal with, which is why it’s best to be proactive about car maintenance. In the long-term, taking care of your car will save you money.

Shop around for insurance

One of the highest costs that come with owning a car is the cost of insurance. That’s why it’s a good idea to shop around when it comes to your insurance premium. Don’t make the mistake of taking the first quote that you get, take the time to look for cheap car insurance with no claims bonus, and see what is around. The better deal you can get on your insurance, the more money you can save, which is why it’s well worth taking the time to shop around.

Take out breakdown cover

Breakdown cover might seem like just another cost, but the fact is if you don’t invest in it and breakdown, you will be cursing yourself. After all, calling out a tow truck is expensive. By investing in breakdown cover, you can ensure that should your car breakdown; you don’t need to worry about hefty call out costs.

Learn to tinker with your car yourself

A great way to reduce the cost of running a car is to learn to deal with minor problems yourself. That being said, it’s important to only tinker with your car if you know what you are doing and the problem that you are dealing with is minor, like replacing a brake light, for instance. However, if you learn to tinker with your car yourself, you can save a lot of money. Obviously, you will still need to pay to have your vehicle serviced each year, but at least you can learn to deal with the small issues yourself, saving yourself money.

The fact is that cars can be incredibly costly to run, but as you can see from the advice above, they don’t have to be. It’s just a case of being smart about how you look after your car and the care that you give it.

Emily Muelford
Emily is a British writer whose love of car culture is augmented by a fascination with both the European and American automotive markets. Her perspective is uniquely fish and chips.