is one of the most expensive things that you can do and although the freedom that a car gives you is priceless, keeping it maintained so that you can go wherever you want, whenever you want unfortunately can bring with it a rather hefty price tag.
However, there are various ways that you can save yourself a small fortune each year on your car related costs and the following 5 points are some of the easiest to carry out.
1. Check your car before it goes in for its MOT - unless you're a car aficionado, it's highly unlikely that you carry out even the most rudimentary of checks before your car goes in for its annual MOT.
However, if you spend less than an hour ensuring that, for example, all of your car's lights are working properly and the fluid levels are topped up, you can save yourself the money of a retest - and the embarrassment of failing on something so minor.
2. Service it yourself - although you won't get a stamp in your log book, if you're planning on keeping your car for years, you could save yourself the cost of an annual service by servicing it yourself.
As complicated as you may think it is, servicing a car is actually relatively easy and as long as you have access to a Haynes manual - or even the internet and YouTube - everything you need to know from how to change the oil to replacing the spark plugs will be covered in an in-depth and easy to follow way.
3. Spend 30 minutes a week maintaining it - the best way to ensure that your car doesn't need any unnecessary repairs is to simply spend 30 minutes once a week maintaining it. Checking the fluid levels and tyre pressures, as well as washing it to ensure no substances damage the paintwork, the 30 minutes will be time well spent and after a few weeks, you'll begin to take it as a given that you have to maintain your car for that length of time and won't miss the 30 minutes from your week.
4. Shop around for everything - whether it's a bulb that needs replacing or all 4 tyres, never take the first price you come across, especially if you're going to a national retailer - although they're popular and have competitive deals, these deals are often only competitive to other major retailers and you could reduce the cost of your purchase by looking around and using the internet or small, local dealers.
5. Only buy what you can afford - it might sound simple and straightforward, but you should only ever buy a car that you can comfortably afford in all respects; not just in the initial price, but the on-going costs, too.
For instance, you might be able to walk into second hand Jaguar dealers and purchase a used XJ, but it's useless if you can't afford the service or repair costs.
Stick to what you can afford and you won't be met with any unnecessary or unexpected high bills.
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