How to Cut Down on Travel Expenses
One of the biggest expenses in day-to-day life is travel, whether commuting, on holiday or the school run.
Here are a few ways you can reduce your travel expenditure.
Car
Insurance – use comparison websites to find the best deal
It might seem obvious but you’d be amazed how many people just let their insurance automatically renew each year.
More often than not, if you do this, your insurance will be costing more than it should (as insurance companies know that many people do not bother to shop around!).
Even if you like your insurer and you’re fairly happy with the quote you can often get it reduced by just calling and saying you’ve found a cheaper quote.
You’ll need to say who and what the quote is but there are many sites out there designed for this very purpose.
- Check out these great tips to find the best and cheapest car insurance by clicking here.
Fuel – do some research into who sells cheaper fuel
There are many iOS or Android apps that compare local fuel prices, such as Petrol Prices.
If you regularly shop at one of the big supermarkets you might find yourself with money off vouchers for their petrol stations and these usually offer the best prices, saving 5p a litre makes a bit difference.
- Click here to find out the Latest average petrol and diesel prices in the UK right now.
- See webuyanycar.com’s list of the best fuel comparison apps.
How you drive
By making a few changes the AA found that the very best drivers could make their fuel go 33% further.
Changes include:
- Weight – make sure there is as little weight as possible in the car; a boatload of stuff with weighing you down and burn fuel.
- Roof rack – Similarly, don’t drive around with a roof box or roof rack unless necessary.
- Aircon – don’t use the air-conditioning unless open windows aren’t an option.
- Over revving – Don’t over-rev the engine; aggressive driving burns more fuel than smoother braking and accelerating.
- Tyre pressure – keep an eye on your tyre pressure and make sure they are at the levels recommended in your handbook.
- Speed – keep your speed down and drive in the correct gear.
- Over revving – keep your car well maintained; putting off that service definitely won’t help in the long run.
Car sharing
It might not be as convenient as driving yourself but you could save a lot of money.
Sharing the school run makes enormous sense and would give you more time to get on with other things.
Public Transport
Avoid the expense of a car altogether and use public transport (if you can)!
There are many ways to save money on public transport and most of these involve simply planning ahead or being slightly more flexible.
- Book train tickets as early as possible (usually three months in advance) to make the most of the cheapest available rates which can be as little as £10 from Manchester and Liverpool to London. You can even upgrade relatively cheaply.
- Railcards offer a third off many routes which makes it pay for itself almost immediately. These are particularly good for students.
- Look at different routes. You might find it’s significantly cheaper to change trains along the way.
- If you live in London or plan to visit invest in an Oyster card. You save £1.60 on every Tube journey compared to paying cash.
- If time isn’t short you could look at travelling by coach rather than train.
The public transport system in the UK is excellent. Click here to see the easiest ways to get around England.
About Us
Being a financial brokerage website, we understand money and make it our mission to help people make the most of the money they have.
We particularly specialise in helping those with a poor credit history, so we that every penny counts, and hope that these posts are in some way helpful?
Clare McDonald
As a mother of two, Clare knows the importance of being careful with money, so writes posts from personal experience. Clare also loves to find great deals, so shares her finding here.
