Become a mobile billboard
If you agree to transform your car into a huge ad, one company says it'll pay for all your fuel during the campaign. The car is encased in vinyl wrapping and stays that way for anything from three to 12 months. It rather depends on what and where you drive as to the financial reward you get. Visit www.adsoncars.com for more info.
Move to the north
A 2007 survey split the country through the middle for garage labour rates, with nine of the top 10 cheapest counties for repair work located north of Manchester. London and the home counties were the most expensive as recorded by www.labourrates.co.uk, with franchise dealers in the capital charging on average £117 per hour. Meanwhile, the cheapest fuel is in the north west of England. In the latest AA fuel price report (March 2008), Yorkshire and Humberside recorded the cheapest petrol at 105.8 pence per litre and the cheapest diesel at 113.6p, 2p and 1p cheaper than the average.
Learn how to self-diagnose
Britain's DIY mechanics are increasingly buying their own diagnostic tools to figure out why that engine warning light has come on. Costing from around £20, these handheld gizmos plug into the car's diagnostic port (every mainstream car from the last 10 years or so has one) and display information from the car's electronic brain. The fault code is then analysed and the problem either fixed or pinpointed for the garage. More expensive versions plug into a laptop for immediate access to the fault code. Check out www.talktomycar.co.uk for more information.
Jack in the gym, buy a bike
Swapping the car for a bicycle one or two journeys a week can easily replace the gym for exercise. So a double cost-saving - gym fees and fuel. Cycle network organisation Sustrans reckons 20 minutes of gentle cycling burns up to 100 calories. Meanwhile, a tax incentive designed to get people to cycle to work can secure you a new bike and equipment for up to 50% off, providing you convince your employer to sign up (which should be easy, chiefly because it doesn't cost them anything). Check out www.cyclescheme.co.uk.
Go to a specialist fitting centre
Local repair garages usually can't compete with specialist fitting centres for the likes of new exhausts, clutches or shock absorbers. A chain such as Nationwide Autocentres or Mr Clutch are equipped to swap over the offending item faster and therefore cheaper than a garage. They usually don't stray too far from the quoted price and the work/item should also come with a warranty. A thorough local garage might do the job with more love, but at the end of the day it's just an exhaust.
Go independent for servicing
Independent specialists will almost always be cheaper than the dealer network for servicing. The manufacturer can't void the warranty if a later problem develops, but the work has to have been carried out in accordance with the recommended intervals and using the right parts. As more and more service centres accept cars under three years old, the manufacturers are fighting back with cheap servicing packages which remove the impetus to sniff out a better deal.
Remove the roof rack
Even empty roof racks can sharply increase fuel consumption because of the extra drag. A fully loaded roof rack can drop the economy by as much as a third, while even something like a empty bike rake can increase the fuel bills by around 7 or 8%. Having said that, an aerodynamic Thule-type roofbox is a more economic buy on both fuel and purchase price than swapping your motor for bigger car.
Run a classic
Classic cars are a gamblers' goldmine for low running costs. Find a good one and the lack of deprecation will easily make up financially for the extra repair bills compared to a car without classic status. Although the rolling 25-year tax-exemption was changed in 1997, you still don't pay any tax on pre-1973 cars. Choose a popular model and parts prices are likely to be plentiful and cheap, and the relative simplicity of an older machine makes DIY servicing much more feasible.
Join a car club
Membership of a car club usually includes a host of cash-saving benefits. If it's of any size, the club will have negotiated discounts for everything from cheap ferry tickets to specialist servicing. The Porsche Club members even get 15% off Warner Breaks holidays, among many other savings. It doesn't have to be just owners' clubs. AA offers members 20% off airport car parking, 20% off ATS Euromaster tyres and 15% off Avis car hire.
Park and bike
You'll save a lot of money on inner-city parking charges by parking for free and unpacking a foldaway bike to ride the rest of the way. The AA reckons parking and tolls account for almost 2p a mile of the 18p a mile running costs for an average small family car. Coupled with the ever-growing threat of congestion charges spreading to towns outside London, then avoiding town centres will become more and more important to cost-cutters. The Apollo Transition at £190 from Halfords is a fine budget foldaway.
Use the cruise
The cruise control isn't an obvious money saving bit of kit, but using it to set your speed does have a noticeable impact on fuel economy. It works well because it can adjust the throttle with far more sensitivity than the average human right foot. That means it won't over-accelerate and usually doesn't use maximum revs to get back up to speed. Coupled to automatic cars, it'll choose the most economical gear as well. Clever new adaptive cruise control systems will moderate your speed approaching slower cars so you don't need to brake (a waste of energy in all cars bar those with brake regeneration).
