Petrol prices may finally be coming down, but owning a car is still expensive. So here are some green tips to help cut your car costs.
Owning a car has never been cheap, but thanks to escalating petrol prices this year, the costs of running a car have soared even further.
So it will come as no surprise that buying a new car is no longer on our list of priorities (if it ever was). In fact, new car registrations plummeted a whopping 23% in October, making it the largest drop in sales for 17 years.
But even if we are not buying new cars, for many of us, having a car is a still necessity. So what can you do to keep your costs down?
1. Switch to a low-emission car
From next April, the road tax-bands will change so that drivers with low-emission cars will pay less tax than those with gas-guzzlers. If your car emits up to 150g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, you can celebrate because your vehicle excise duty (VED) will either come down or stay flat.
However, there will be a new top band for cars that emit more than 255g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, and drivers of these cars will be hit hard with a road tax payment of £440.
In addition, there will be a new rate for the first year of owning a car from 1 April 2010, with the worst gas guzzlers seeing their road tax leap to £950 in the first year. For the least polluting new cars, the first year rate will be zero.
It's certainly something to think about!
2. Green car maintenance
Simply keeping your car well maintained can help fuel efficiency. So, to start off with, ensure your tyres are pumped up to the correct level. According to insurance provider Swiftcover, driving on under-inflated tyres requires more engine power, and by keeping tyres at the correct pressure you can save up to 10% of fuel costs.
Removing any added weight you don't need in the car, such as a roof rack, also helps fuel efficiency. A 100kg load can increase fuel consumption by up to five miles per gallon, according to Swiftcover.
You can also save money on your fuel by hunting around for the cheapest places to buy petrol. Petrolprices.com lists almost 10,000 petrol stations around the country, with prices updated regularly.
3. Join a car club
Car clubs are generally only available to you if you live in a city. But if you do, joining one can significantly cut down on your car costs.
Car clubs enable you to hire a car, which is parked locally, for an hour or two - or for however long you need it. You pay an annual membership fee (typically £50 to £75) and then a small hourly charge for each hour you use (typically £5 to £7.50). The cost of petrol and insurance is included.
If you're planning to hire a car for a day, a normal car hire firm will usually work out cheaper - but if you only want the car occasionally for an hour or two, perhaps to do a weekly shop, a car club should prove cost-effective.
To find out whether there's a car club near you, check out Carclubs.org.uk.
4. Take a greener approach to car insurance
It is always worth shopping around for car insurance to see if there is a better deal out there for you. As tempting as it can be, never renew an existing policy without price-checking it first - you could save yourself a lot of cash.
It's also worth noting that adding another named driver to your insurance policy can actually make it cheaper, not more expensive. It is also greener, if it means you share a car and keep another vehicle off the road.
5. Leave the car at home
The most obvious way to minimise your car costs is to leave the car at home and walk or use public transport instead. Of course this is not always the most practical solution and partly depends on where you live and how close you are to public transport networks. But do think about whether you actually need your car for those short trips before jumping behind the wheel.
Of course, if you follow any of these tips, don't forget you will also be helping the environment - an added bonus! In the meantime, let's hope petrol prices continue to fall.
More: Drive A Brand New Car For Less |Five Steps To Cheaper Car Insurance