Money-Saving Car Tips That Your Wallet Will Love

I n a 2017 study, AAA found that the price of repairing and maintaining a new car is $1,186 per year. If you are looking for money-saving car tips to cut back on that humongous amount, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled some incredible tips.

1. Find Cheaper Parking

There's always cheap paid parking available, we just feel too lazy to look for it sometimes. Instead of parking in the closest available slot to your destination, use the app Parkopedia to find cheaper parking nearby. If you're in a metropolitan city, chances are you have tons of parking spaces around you. This app can save you a lot of money.

2. Source Car Parts On Your Own

If your car needs a part to be replaced, and you feel like the price quoted to you is too high, do your wallet a favor and go look for the part somewhere yourself. Ask your friends or Google mechanics near you. You will likely find a cheaper part just as good as the one you were quoted a high price for.

3. Use Your AC Less

This is obvious. The more you use your car's air conditioning, the more fuel it'll consume. If you don't absolutely need to, don't turn on the cooler. Pull down the windows instead, or set it on the “fan” setting. This will save your fuel and give you better mileage, thereby providing overall savings since your fuel tank will last longer than normal.

4. Get Cashback On Fuel

Check whether your card offers an option for cash-back on purchasing fuel. It's not a huge percentage, often just 5% and often for a very limited time period, but sometimes these little amounts add up to a considerable amount. Besides, it's free money that you wouldn't have otherwise, and you don't have to do anything extra for it.

5. Use Navigational Applications

But how can maps help you save money? Well, maps can recommend shorter routes, and that will cost you less fuel and thus save your money. Also, maps will tell you the time you should leave, so you face the least traffic, and thus your journey will be shorter, and shorter journeys use lesser fuel. Less fuel consumption means less money used, more money saved!

6. Buy Expensive Tires

Yeah,… this sounds counterproductive, doesn't it? Except it isn't. A pair of shoes that cost $5 will be worn out in a few months. A pair of shoes that cost $50 will last a good few years if taken care of. The same is the case with tires. Buying cheap tires can prove to be the wrong decision in the long run, which can possibly cost you more than you could initially save. Expensive tires are an investment, and they'll last you a long time.

7. Stop Buying Premium Fuel

Depending on the car you have, you likely don't need premium fuel. It's not as beneficial as the advertisements would like you to believe, especially if you do not own a performance car. You will end up paying significantly more for premium fuel, and you will not reap the benefits of it, so it's probably best to steer clear of it and save money in the long run.

8. Check Tire Pressure Regularly

Underinflated tires can use 6% more fuel than those with recommended pressure. If your tire pressure is okay, you will have better average mileage, and save approximately $50 per year on fuel by getting additional miles from the same tank of fuel. It may cost a bit to check the pressure at a gas station, but you can also do it at home if you buy an electric pump. It's an investment and it'll pay off.

9. Park Away From Other Cars

Simply put, the farther away you are from other drivers, the farther away you are from damage. Meaning your car is less likely to be scratched or have a broken rearview mirror, and thus it will cost you less in annual repair charges.

10. Find Cheap Fuel

Just like cheap parking spots, it's important to find gas stations that charge less per liter of fuel. Make it a habit to mentally note the prices of the petrol pumps you pass by on a daily basis, so you don't have to take a detour for cheap petrol and end up spending more in the process rather than saving. Go to the cheapest gas station in your route and notice how the few cents saved will add up over time into a big amount.

Make use of all these money-saving car tips, and you will notice that you are cutting back a lot of costs in no time.

• This post is tagged in:

• saving
• cars
• maintenance
• tips to save
• automobiles