Friday, October 8

Car Costs

These days, car costs take a heap chunk of the hip pocket budget. For some, it is up there next to house mortgage.

But it doesn’t have to be like that all the time. There are many ways on how to reduce cost. Got these tips from news.com.au.

1. Know the cycle. This is about the fuel price. The fuel price used to be on Tuesday, then was shifted for about a couple of weeks on Saturday and now back to Tuesday. Paying attention to the prices of fuel is a big help as the difference could be about 10c. If you’re filling up an 80 lt car, that’s substantial amount of money that you can save. We always pass by a petrol station so I check it out when I know that my fuel is running low.

2. Fuel discounts - I’m on this as well. I have a fuel voucher/card in Woolworths and I’m maximasing the use of it.

3. Cut running costs. The key is just right maintenance. If you feel or see that there’s something wrong in your car, fix it right away rather than waiting for the molehill to become a mountain.

4. Share the driving. This is for when you drive to work. Carpooling will save you heaps of money.

5. Eye on insurance. Yes, this one I reckon is so easy. There are several insurance companies that you can compare and get the best price.

6. Finance factors. Look for the cheapest finance. Although, some of the banks and companies will have you jump in hoops, it pays as often they offer the lowest interest rate as the risk is low compared to those who approved finance like doing magic. I learned that the difference is almost half.

7. Haggle Hard. Yeah, the secret to saving money is good haggling. Although, these days when you go to the shops most of the items are on fixed price but when it comes to repair, insurance or buying cars, haggling is a tool.

8. Near-new is good. It’s nice to own a brand new car but if your purpose of buying a car is practical, used car can be your type.

9. Retention is the key. And that’s my plan unless I get hold of an obscene amount of money in my disposal. I plan to use my car until it dies.

10. DIY Mechanics. There are car trouble that might just need a DIY fixing. It could be replacing the head gasket in your Honda Civic. It could be anything else. It pays when you investigate what the issue first before calling a repair shop like the Los Angels auto repair.

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