• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Policy
  • Guest Post
  • Archive

One Cent At A Time

A Personal finance blog to get rich

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Beautiful Life
  • Becoming Rich
  • Beginners Guide
  • Extra Income
  • Productivity
  • Saving Money

Save Money While Driving, For a Better Car

September 21, 2015 3 Comments

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email

If you’re a car owner you can probably vouch for the fact that vehicle ownership can be an expensive thing to manage. This can be especially challenging for younger drivers who face higher insurance premiums and may struggle to afford a newer car in the first place.

Save Money While Driving For a Better Car

There are ways for you to save when you’re driving, though, ranging from how you drive to general maintenance. Then, with clever investments using these savings, you can help to further prolong the lifespan of your car and limit the chance of you having to fork out for repairs. To find out how you can do this, read on to discover our suggestions.

Driving Style

The way that you drive your car has a significant bearing on how much you end up spending on it. This is because an aggressive driving style not only uses up more fuel, but it also can cause general wear and tear to happen much quicker. Your car’s tires and engine components can become damaged leading to other more serious problems that you’ll have to pay for.

To combat this, you might want to try a different approach to driving to prolong the lifespan of these parts and indeed provide higher mpg:

  • Keep your car revs between 1500-2000 when accelerating to change gear
  • Have your tires properly pumped up before each journey
  • Make sure your fluid levels are regularly topped up to improve efficiency
  • Put on the gas gradually, do not accelerate too fast. It’s ok if the car in the next lane overtakes you
  • Avoid driving during rush hours, more signals you run into, more gasoline will be consumed
  • Combine work and finish within a single trip, this will avoid multiple trips
  • Do not over speed, not only you can save on traffic ticket cost, but also your fuel economy improves. Keep in mind a traffic ticket will definitely increase your auto insurance premium. The increase can be felt as soon as the next policy renewal

Smart Investments

With the right driving style over time, you might find your bank balance looking a little healthier each month. When you’ve saved enough you might then want to invest in the following improvements to your car to again improve your mileage, economy, and longevity.

  • New spark plugs can make your engine more efficient as they will fire quicker and more effectively than your old ones
  • Top range tires from a named supplier will last longer and improve mpg
  • New air filters again improve performance by bringing cleaner air, easier to process into the engine
  • Using only top quality oil and engine fluids increases engine efficiency and longer engine life

Quick fixes

There are some quick and easy fixes that you can try. I’d say these are easiest ways to get biggest saves

  • Have your tire properly inflated, at least once every month you should check air pressure
  • Take off excessive load from your car. Check your trunk, remove things are you don’t use. Most of the items in your trunk can be kept in your garage.
  • Use as little A/C as possible, this will make your engine consume less fuel
  • Drive within the speed limit. Over speeding cost more fuel consumption. Faster you go more fuel will be consumed per mile.

Now let’s say you save some money by following the steps above. What do you want to do next?

One way is to use up the money towards some of the financial goals. Be it a debt repayment, or saving up for a big purchase, or even for your next vacation. You can use up the saving as you wish. But, unless you set the money aside, you’ll never feel like saving money on gas.

So, the better way forward is to measure up your monthly expenditure on gas. If you pay with a card at the gas station, it’s easy to find out. Check for last few months of expenses. And after making the changes in your driving, changing minor thing sin your car, continue to measure your gas cost every month.

Let’s say your average cost of gas was $200 per month before the driving changes and $180 per month after your effort to save money on gas. You can use that $20 to one of your favorite ways. Although a car is not an investment, as it’s a depreciating asset, you can still save up for a fuel-efficient and newer car. It’ll take some time, though. 

Bu whatever it takes, do measure up the money you save, else the motivation gets lost in no time. You will find yourself speeding with a deflated tire again, trying to overtake other cars, or driving over the speed limit.

With all this in mind then, all there’s left for you to do is give some of these methods a try, and, you’ll one day start to enjoy getting more out of your car at a lower overall cost.

LIKE THIS POST?
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Join our community of 8000+ subscribers to increase your net worth and build wealth
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
The tool that changed the way I manage my personal finance - Personal Capital, The Best Free Personal Finance Tool

Want to start a WordPress blog now? The onecentatatime.com blog is hosted by Siteground Web Hosting. For only $3.95 a month, Siteground can help you set up and host your website/blog quickly and easily.

About the Blogger Hi I am SB, a personal finance enthusiast with a career in software development. I am an immigrant to the USA since 2005, after being born and brought up in India. This 40 something technocrat lives and breathes personal finance whenever he gets time from the day job, job as a husband and a dad

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, if you make a purchase following the links, I may earn a commission. Read affiliate disclosure here
« Tips To Manage Credit Cards When You Are In Debt
Keeping Cremation Cost Under Control »

Comments

  1. Clarisse @ Make Money Your Way says

    September 22, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    I remember before, my uncle told me that new spark plugs can make your engine more efficient. I hope more people will know about this one.

    Reply
    • SB says

      September 22, 2015 at 10:04 PM

      I must admit I never changed a spark plug or requested for one. I do the other stuff I mentioned, though.

      Reply
  2. Jordan says

    September 23, 2015 at 10:43 AM

    Interesting points here. Cars are unfortunately a pretty big expense a lot of the time – thanks for sharing these tips on making the most out of it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Create your own blog in 20 minutes and $20

Personal Capital, a free tool to change your financial health today

I use and suggest Upstart, for your personal loan need

CreditKarma, a free tool to check your credit scorey

I use Coinbase, for my crypto investments

101 Cents at a Time

101 Ways to Earn Extra Money on the Side
201 Frugal and Perfect Birthday Gifts
101 Ways to Save Money Everyday
101 Ways to be Better and Successful at Work
101 Ways to Save Environment and Energy
101 Frugal and Romantic Anniversary Ideas
101 Low-Cost Men's Fashion Ideas
101 Personal Finance Tips
101 Ways to Reuse Household Stuff
101 Things to Do, When Nothing to Do
101 College Graduation Gift Ideas
100 Tips for Ecommerce Startup
101 Ways to Enjoy Indoor During Winter
101 Ways to Beat Procrastination

Popular Posts

Quick Cash - How to make $100 legally, in a day
Living well on less than $15,000 a Year
Top survey sites for side income
What to do when auto repair goes wrong
Where should I invest my money now?
20 Ways to be productive and happy at work
51 Ways to get out of debt
Be a better person in 15 days, 15 ways
Income ideas for retirees and senior citizens
51 side jobs for college students
Urgently need a large amount of money?
Should I buy or should I rent?
Best Personal loan providers
25 Ways to save environment
25 DIY car repairs to save money
How to decorate office cubicle
How to show your wife you care
50 Financial Rules for Success
51 Frugal weekend family activity ideas
Become Rich By Saving 1 Hour Of Daily Wage
How much do I need to save for retirement?
How to negotiate your salary

Follow us on FaceBook

About Author

SB

Blogger by choice and IT manager by profession. Finance is my passion and gardening is my greatest satisfaction. Born in India, settled in US, Husband and a father. I created this blog in 2011 with a vision to help others. Thanks for your patronage. More info on my "about" page.

View all posts


Subscribe

Join our community of 5000+ subscribers to increase net worth and build wealth

Advertisements

Personal Stories

How I got a new HP computer replaced
Was COVID circulating in USA in fall of 2019?
How my credit score went up 800+
Why I didn’t invest in Bitcoins
How I controlled impulses to buy things
Why this blog is named One Cent at a Time

Subscribe via Email

Site Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this web site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Read full Affiliate disclosure


One Cent at a Time is published by SB. The opinions expressed herein by him are his own and not those of his employer or anyone else. All content on One Cent at a Time is for entertainment purposes only. By reading this blog, you agree that SB and/or One Cent at a Time is not responsible for any actions taken after reading this blog. For the full disclaimer, click here .

Major Media Mention

One Cent at a Time Media Appearances

Copyright © 2023 One Cent At A Time · Designed by Nuts and Bolts Media