Cars can cost a lot of money to run, especially if you have an older model that regularly has mechanical difficulties. Here are some tips to ensuring you cut out as much of the costs as possible, without sacrificing your car’s safety, so that you can continue to drive your car:
Drive responsibly
You might wonder what driving responsibly has got to do with cutting your car costs. The truth is that the safer you drive, the more economical your car will be. Braking early, for example, can help to cut back on the amount of petrol used by your car and mean that you won’t have to fill up as often. Another tip is to shut the windows when driving to safe on efficiency. There are 10 tips on this MSN article which are also worth knowing. So, basically, don’t over-do your car. The more you put pressure on the motor or push it to its limit, the more likely it will be to have difficulties that you’re going to have to pay out for.
Pre-checks for your MOT
You need to check the car over yourself before having an MOT and this doesn’t need a degree in mechanics to perform. Your car can fail your MOT on simple things, like a broken light or windscreen wiper. By checking these over beforehand and replacing a broken light yourself, the garage conducting your MOT won’t need to charge you extra for them to do it. Sometimes a garage can charge up to £50 for simply replacing a light – money you could easily save by doing simple checks yourself.
Checking insurance premiums
Insurance companies will try and get you to renew your insurance with them but can charge extra, which you need to keep an eye out for. When you receive your renewal letter, don’t simply accept the premium as it is likely you will be able to get a cheaper one elsewhere. Check out comparison companies and if you can get a better deal, call up your current insurance company and tell them the details of this. Don’t simply tell them you can get it for £100 cheaper elsewhere, they will need to know the details of the company and of the deal to be able to match the price. They may well match the price, but in some cases they will tell you they cannot do anything for you and ask you to move to the new company. This can take a bit of administration, and you will need to weigh up whether your saving is worth it. A £100 saving probably is worth it, but £20 here and there might not be worth the time. Either way, its pays to check out the competition!
Remember to scrap when it’s not worth the hassle
Scrapping your car with BMS Salvage can help you to get funds for a better running motor. If your car is old and costing far more money than it’s worth, try scrapping it and look into buying something newer and more efficient.