If you own a car, you probably have sat down somewhere and thought real hard about how you can save more money on your car expenses. Going to the showroom and leaving with a new car for the first time is real fun. But wait until you realize that expenses don’t end when you acquire a car and bring it home.
There are tyres to be replaced, servicing fees and, of course, fueling. There are many more expenses relating to owning a car. But what if someone told you that you could save money on these expenses as you enjoy driving around?
I will be sharing in this article ideas on how you can save money on car expenses. Here are some ideas that will make sure more of your money goes into a savings account instead of going to change this or that part on your car.
1. HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON FUEL
You know that your car can never run without fuel. And for this reason, you think it is highly unlikely that there is anything you can do to save money on fuel. Well, you have got this all wrong. There are things you can do to help save on fuel. These include:
Minimise the trips you make in a day: First, driving a car that has been packed for a few hours and the engine has already gone cold uses a lot of extra fuel on the first five to 10 miles. Second, when you make fewer trips in a day, you save on mileage. Saving on mileage saves on fuel. For example, if you have some errands that need to be run and all of these are in the same town, how about you combine all these errands into one single errand? Combining these errands will save all the fuel that you could have used going back and forth to accomplish the different errands.
READ: Five things you shouldn’t do when driving an automatic car
Avoiding driving during rush hour: During the rush hour, you have to stop and start your engine several times. In order to start an engine and start moving, you need to use first gear, in such a case, the amount of fuel consumed is very high. You might assume that you could also use second gear, but second gear is also not the solution. The amount of fuel used will still be very high. The only solution that remains is for you to avoid traffic jams completely. Make sure you do not travel during the rush hour. It is not worth it, unless of course you must. You can leave earlier or later to avoid the jams.
Use fuel injector cleaner: A fuel injector cleaner is a solvent that is applied directly to your fuel mix. This is added in order to boost performance as it helps in cleaning of fuel. Fuel is never perfectly pure. Using a fuel injector cleaner boosts your car’s performance and ensures it dissolves any build up on your car’s fuel injectors.
On top of helping car owners save on fuel consumption and increasing your car’s performance, fuel injector cleaners ensure that the life of your fuel injector is prolonged saving replacement expenses.
Ensure Tyre press is maintained at correct level: When your car tyres lack the correct amount of pressure, that is, the pressure is low, your car will use more fuel to keep your car going. It is therefore essential to ensure that you maintain your wheels at the correct tyre pressure to make sure that you don’t utilize more fuel than you have to.
SEE ALSO: Eleven things every good driver must know
Close your car windows: Additionally, if you have got a sunroof, close that too. When the car manufacturers are designing cars, they do it in such a way the car has the ability to resist drag force. When you open the car windows or maybe the sunroof, you are interfering with the car’s aerodynamics (this is shaping a car in such a way that it is as sleek as possible).
It is not a problem when you are driving around the city while saying “Hi” to pals but when you hit the road and start moving at a higher speed, it is essential to close these windows because the wind entering through them is making your car expensive to run. This wind drags your car behind and tries to resist the car motion. This, in turn, forces you to use more fuel in order to get your car to move at the speed that you want to drive at.
2. OTHER WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON CAR EXPENSES
Apart from fuel, maintenance is the other big expense on your car. But this too has ways to save.
Know what your car needs when you go for servicing: Often, people who service cars will try to prey on you if you do not know what you need when you go for maintenance. They will tell you of parts that you should replace while of course, these parts do not need replacing. These are the parts that when they replace them, they will make a huge profit. Always know what you want before you go to the garage, otherwise you will end up being ripped off your money.
Switch your tyres: Generally, you will always notice that the front tires wear off quickly compared to the rear ones. Switching tyres ensures that they wear evenly and hence cuts on the costs involved in replacing these tyres prematurely. Knowing when to switch these tyres is not a problem because more often than not, the details are always found in your car manual.
READ: The five most-fuel efficient cars in Kenya
Handle simple repairs: Some repairs are so easy such that anybody can actually do them. The problem is car owners are used to going to the garage and so, they will take even these small repairs to the garage. You can replace your car lights, you can replace the wiper blades and even the fuses.
Remember YouTube is there to guide you. A simple search through the use of the keywords related to what you are looking to do will bring up all the solutions to your problems.
Shop around for insurance: Don’t just agree to insure your vehicle with the first insurance company you find. Instead, make a point of going to other insurance companies and asking what their rates are. You only agree to work with the company that is offering you the lowest rates. If you don’t shop around you may miss on thousands of shillings in terms of savings.
Keep one car for long: Majority of car owners will feel the need to buy a new car after only a few years on the road with their current car. The money required to acquire a new car cannot be covered by the amount you get after you sell your old car. What this means is that you have to add money to what you get after selling the old car to acquire a new car. There is no need for this if the old car is running just fine. This can actually save you over a hundred thousand in expenses every year.
Buy a smaller car: Smaller cars are lighter, which makes them ideal for saving on fuel. Small cars are also cheaper as compared to big vehicles.
