Can you cut your motoring costs?

In my last post I was saying how you can really cut your car insurance costs simply by directly phoning a long list of car insurance companies for quotes and persisting to the end. It's probably the only motoring cost you can cut every year.

The hard facts are when you decide on a car you lock yourself into fixed costs for depreciation, interest, vehicle excise duty, replacement parts and fuel. If you make the calculation you'll probably find your total motoring cost is near 25% of the money you clear at work. 40% of that cost will most likely be spent on fuel. If you can make savings they could be significant.

When you buy a car compare all the above costs. The more you pay for a car, the more you'll suffer in depreciation and interest. You'll be pleased to know most car manufacturers are reducing emissions which lowers your annual VED. They've made similar improvements in fuel consumption especially in the MPV and crossover sectors. You need to be absolutely certain the car fits BOTH your lifestyle and budget. You'll find most of the data on car comparison sites.

In the same way as you have to get plenty of car insurance quotes, when you buy a car you need to analyse car quotes. There are four deals to look at - discount, finance, part-exchange price, and add-ons. You should not give up any one deal to get the other. You want the best of all four deals.

Let's imagine reading Vauxhall Zafira reviews and comparisons suggests it might be the perfect family car. Subject to you liking the look of the Zafira, driver comfort and are absolutely sure it fits your purpose, it's time to make more detailed comparison of the costs and the deal to be done. You'll most likely find similar cars in this class have similar  data costs - so immaterial cuts there.

The only option is to look at another class of car, for example make an estate cars comparison to see if there's any advantage.

However you could negotiate a £2,000 discount, lower interest which might save you £1,500 over 5-years, £500 more for your part-exchange and a hundred pounds or so on extras. That's a huge £4,000 to negotiate. You could save even more if you considered near new self registered cars with delivery mileage.

I once sold a £22,000 family hatchback with delivery mileage for £12,995. When the owner wrote it off 3-years later the insurance company gave them £7,000. Imagine if they'd paid £22,000.

You will find if you replace your car you should be able to improve VED and fuel costs. You can negotiate thousands of pounds in value on a new car. If you buy near new you will make added savings on depreciation and interest. Just remember in time to shop around every year for car insurance quotes.

Regards
Ralph