Driving costs money, time, and fuel. The more you drive, the more you pay for gas and maintenance. Reducing your commute can help you save on gas and save on car insurance with pay as you drive insurance.
How much can you save, and how much will your carbon footprint be reduced? Read on to learn how to calculate the trade-offs involved in driving less.
How to save money by driving my car less?
No matter how little you use your automobile, there are a few things you should keep in mind to help you save money on repairs.
Make sure you know how to change a flat tire and maintain the proper pressure in your tires. Plus, when it comes to keeping your automobile operating smoothly and extending its lifespan, frequent oil changes are a must.
If your brakes are squeaking, you should get them fixed since thin brake linings are a sign of impending failure. Stopping your automobile on the roadside isn’t necessary, but you should get your car serviced as soon as possible when you hear a strange noise.
While you can’t prevent significant hiccups from happening, these small maintenance tips can save you money. Regular maintenance keeps your car healthy.
Fortunately, regular maintenance will be less of a concern when you drive less, so you’ll save more money. Below we’ll detail different ways to save even more when driving less and how to drive less more often.
Find Somewhere Safe to Store Your Car
If you plan on leaving your car unattended for an extended period, keep it someplace safe. Storing it in your garage to avoid theft and weather damage like the scorching summer heat is a great option. Just make sure you have storage insurance for your vehicle.
To avoid spending a lot of money on pricey garage parking in an urban area, look for the cheapest parking spaces and avoid parking in the most convenient garage. Consider getting a waterproof vehicle cover if you must leave it outdoors to save money on wear and tear.
Get Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance
Purchasing insurance based on the number of miles you travel each year might save you a lot of money. This is especially true if you’re a low-mileage driver.
As long as you don’t go on many road trips, your monthly payment will be low.
Find Alternatives to Driving
People use a variety of ways to get about, such as walking, bicycling, and using public transit. To save money, you’ll need to lay down your car keys and become multimodal, which means you’ll use public transit more often.
In addition, ride-sharing services such as Uber, Lyft, and others may fill in the gaps if you have a long walk to the metro station or it is late at night time.
It is possible to save time and energy by using delivery services for groceries, dry cleaning, and other things. In places like Chicago or New York, car-free inhabitants may also use bike-share facilities.
Non-monetary advantages of the multimodal lifestyle include free workouts. Reducing your reliance on your vehicle might help you get in better condition.
Commit to the Multimodal Lifestyle
You need to commit to living and working near an alternate mode of transportation, like a bus station or a bike route. This will help you ditch your automobile altogether.
If you work or live near a variety of public transportation choices, you can avoid using a vehicle for most of your errands.
If you decide to forgo a vehicle for more centrally located living, you may have to allocate some of the money saved from driving to the relocation. You might think of it as a little bit of a compromise. It’s possible to get away with paying more for a better location if you don’t have to pay for a vehicle.
Cities, of course, provide many areas where public transportation is readily available. It’s possible, though, that people in smaller or midsized towns may have to put in more effort to find housing that’s accessible without a vehicle.
Rural folks may have the hardest difficulty giving up their cars and may concentrate on reducing their automobile use rather than completely giving it up.
More and more small communities are looking to improve their downtown areas and public transportation. With the availability of bus monitoring applications and train timetables on smartphones, suburban public transit has never been easier to deal with.
What to do if you can’t ditch your car altogether
A car-free existence isn’t always feasible. Children, severe weather, and living in rural areas may disrupt your car-free lifestyle. Multicar households may save money by selling one of their vehicles. One fewer automobile may save you a lot of money in the long run.
So don’t fret if you find that giving up your automobile isn’t feasible for you. There are still many of the same advantages of using your car less as there are if you give up your car completely.
Keeping your automobile but only using it seldom is the gist of the concept. When a family decides to get rid of one vehicle, they will not be completely car-free, but they will save money on insurance, gas, and maintenance costs.
Alternatively, you can get rid of both of your older cars and trade them in for one new car that requires less maintenance and tends to the needs of the entire family.
The Reduced Environmental Impacts of Driving Less
Giving up your automobile is one of the most significant measures you can take toward more environmentally friendly living. Getting about without a vehicle minimizes your carbon footprint, as well as the amount of pollution and acid rain that you contribute to.
Most significantly, not having a car may help you save a lot of money.
Using a car less frequently is a win-win for many individuals when it comes to transportation. To run errands, you may, for example, go for a jog or a bike ride in beautiful weather to get some exercise and take in some fresh air while running errands.
Your automobile is there as a fallback, though, for those days when it’s freezing, and the roads are treacherous. Transporting a large group or a lot of baggage is another common usage for a vehicle like a car.
However, using your car less does not remove all of your driving expenses. Obviously, the less you drive, the less money you’ll spend on gas. You also save money on auto maintenance by reducing how much you drive.
While vehicle insurance is still required, many providers may lower your rates if you drive less than the average person. To top it off, driving less would have health and environmental benefits.
