How To Cut Down On Travel Expenses

One of the biggest expenses in day-to-day life is travel whether it is commuting, holiday or the school run. Here are a few ways you can reduce your travel expenditure.

Car

Use comparison websites to find the best insurance deal for you. It might seem obvious but you’d be amazed how many people just let their insurance automatically renew each year. 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.

Do some research into where sells cheaper fuel. 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.

Think about 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:

• Make sure there is as little as possible in the car; a bootload of stuff with weigh you down and burn fuel.
• Similarly, don’t drive around with a roofbox or roofrack unless necessary.
• Don’t use the air-conditioning unless open windows aren’t an option.
• Don’t over-rev the engine; aggressive driving burns more fuel than smoother breaking and accelerating.
• Keep an eye on your tyre pressure and make sure they are at the levels recommended in your handbook.
• Keep your speed down and drive in the correct gear.
• Keep your car well maintained; putting off that service definitely won’t help in the long run.

Think about 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

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.

In 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.

If you find yourself short of money but have expenses to cover we can help you find a quick loan to suit you.  Our loan lenders will have an offer to you within minutes of you completing a simple online form.