By Sheryl Thiel
There are many factors which can cause financial stress in our lives. It could be a global economic recession, a downturn in our country’s economy or an unexpected situation that may affect you only.
Although it is not an ideal situation, succeeding financially through a tough economic situation may mean cutting back or cutting out certain expenses altogether to stay afloat.
Here is some good advice from motus.cars on how to cut car ownership related costs during tough times:
Car finance
Your monthly car repayments will be affected by the current repro rate. This means that when repro rates are lower, you will see a reduction on your monthly car repayment amount, and visa-versa. If you are struggling with the repayments – contact your financial institution to explore options available to you.
These could include a “payment holiday” or refinancing the vehicle. Both options would reduce your current spend. It unfortunately means you will pay more for the vehicle in the long run, but the cost saving will help in tough times.
Car insurance
Some insurers offer a reduction in premiums if you have a low monthly mileage usage on your vehicle. If your insurer has not offered this to you yet, make sure to contact them to ask what they can offer. You could also take some time to shop around for more affordable insurance but be sure to compare the benefits before signing on the dotted line.
Fuel
Our travel mileage and the fuel price are both numbers that can and do fluctuate.
Your best action to reduce fuel spend is to do what you can to manage consumption. Speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking are the quickest ways to waste fuel.
Here are 10 tips to make your fuel take you further, from motus.cars:
Maintenance
Make sure that you do the necessary checks on your vehicle like checking water, oil, brake fluids and tyre pressure. Eliminate unnecessary repair costs for something that could have been avoided by routine maintenance checks. Handle any easy repairs yourself, like replacing wiper blades, checking your tyre tread, and replacing your tyres if it is necessary.
Remember that costs involved with owning a vehicle can and do fluctuate. Be sure to adjust the costs in your budget where necessary.
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