Owning a car can be expensive, but the weather, convenience, children, work, hobbies, and more give us so many reasons to own one. Did you know that the average person will spend over $500,000 on vehicles and vehicle-related expenses over their lifetime? While cars are a necessity for most of us; fortunately, there are ways to save money on car expenses.
Keep Your Car Longer. Cars depreciate quickly. If you trade your car in too frequently, you’ll be losing money on low trade-in values not to mention high interest rates for financing.
Small Cars. If owning a small sized car works well with your lifestyle, you will save with better gas mileage. Insurance rates also tend to be cheaper compared to a large SUV.
Tune Ups! Keep your car properly tuned. It’s a lot cheaper to pay for a tune up than a large repair that could have been prevented.
Follow Your Manual. Your owner’s manual suggests proper tire size, proper timing for oil changes, tire pressure guidelines, and more.These guidelines not only will keep your car running safely, but at its best performance.
Plan Your Trips. Combine errands when driving so that you save on gas! You could also cut corners with a cash-back rewards credit card. You can likely save up to 3% on future gas purchases.
Insurance. Talk to your insurance agent about raising your deductible. With a great driving record, you could come out ahead!
Car Pool. Car pool to work! Sharing the drive with just one other person will save you money on gas. Car pool with more than one person and you are looking at even more savings.