The following is a guest post by Cheap Car Insurance
Though many people will spend a fortune just on the transportation in their lives, what they do not know is that they hardly have to give up the luxury or the prestige of driving a great vehicle because of the expenses. There are many ways to save more than 20% of all car expenses over a lifetime with just a few simple steps that anyone can do.
Below are a few commonsense ways to save on car expenses.
1. Use the Internet!
Many routine check up and maintenance functions that used to be done by a mechanic can be easily done by the owner of the car at home! Simply look up the function that you are trying to do yourself. There are video how tos, specialty sites, and experts that will tell you exactly what you need to know, what you need to get, and where you need to get it.
Things like oil changes and tire rotations can be done for you at a fraction of the cost of the local mechanic – an easy way to save on car expenses.
2. Do you really need premium gas?
The fuel systems in the cars of today are much more sophisticated than those of the 80s, 90s, or even turn of the century cars, although some of them have this feature too. Cars today will actually change their
functionality based on the octane gas you put in there. Therefore, premium gas at a mechanical level has no real advantage these days over its regular counterpart.
The only times in which you will actually need to use premium gas is if you have a supercharged engine, and these add ons are usually aftermarket specs which you would add yourself. Therefore, most cars straight out of the factory will do just fine on regular gas, which will save you up to 15% every time you go to the pump right there. Your system does care if the gas is clean, so a fuel cleaning additive (they sell these in gas stations for around US $5) might be a monthly investment that you might want to make.
3. No need to warm up any more!
If you have been victim to the old wives’ tale of how you need to warm up the engine before starting to drive, especially on cold days, you are simply wasting gas. Cars today actually warm up better when being driven. Just make sure to avoid sudden stops and starts.
Keep your car around 60 to 65 mph and don’t live in the fast lane and you will not have to warm up your car, burning gas in the driveway any more.
4. Leave the gear at home.
Or rent it when you get to the place. If you have gear on top of your car, the wind resistance alone can give you less gas mileage, up to 5% for a long trip. If you absolutely must place gear on the top of your car, do it with the gear as close to the car as possible, so that you cut down on as much wind resistance as possible.
5. Use used parts.
If you absolutely have to go to the mechanic, and you get the second opinion, and both of them say that you need X fixed, ask if you can use a used part instead of having them send out for a new one. In any case, the one that actually has the part and can save you that cost should be the one that gets your business, all other things being equal.
6. Compare car insurance rates.
Many companies do not wish buyers to know how competitive the car insurance market really is. If you can not get your premium down after putting in an alarm, or moving closer to your job and decreasing mileage, or getting married, it may be time for you to move on. Make sure that your car insurance company is giving you a good cheap car insurance comparison by checking it against other car insurance companies every six months.