Driving Your Way to Better Personal Money Management

When buying a car, whether new or used, take advantage of the fact that most car salespeople have quotas to fill.  Therefore, in order to save money, you should shop at the end of the month when car dealers are frantic to fill their quotas, rather than at the beginning when they've got the whole month ahead of them to make their sales.  You're bound to get better deals from a panicked salesperson than from a confident one.

Now, let's say you've worked hard to find a way to afford to buy this year's latest model.  The best move you can make from here is to buy it in September, when dealerships have to clear out existing inventory for next year's models.  December is another great month for purchasing cars, especially in colder climates.  This is when the industry's often in a slump and, once again, you have the possibility of negotiating deals that are sweeter for you.

If you're buying a used car, look it up in the Bluebook to get an accurate estimate of its current value and have a mechanic you trust check it for problems.  Your home budget software won't be able to account for all unforeseeable expenses you're likely to incur should you neglect these two critical steps.

If you're thinking of leasing a car, don't just figure out if you can afford to make the monthly payments.  Take a close look at the total costs of owning the car, including: the car's price (or capitalized cost), down payments, trade-in allowances, fees (i.e. wear and tear, excess mileage), and how much it will cost to purchase the vehicle when the lease's term expires.

Trim your gasoline expenses tremendously by keeping your car tuned up and properly maintained.  Change your oil, oil filter, and air filter every 3,000 miles.  Keep your tires properly inflated, not too much and not too little.  When the winter ends, be sure to take off your heavy-treaded snow tires since, like a dirty engine, they cause the car to burn more fuel.  A well-maintained vehicle has much better mileage and can maintain that optimum mileage for a much longer period of the car's overall lifespan.

Another way to lower automobile costs is to empty out your trunk of everything you don't absolutely need to drive around with you.  The heavier your vehicle is, the more gas it takes to keep it running.  You lose about 1 gallon per mile in economy for every additional 250 pounds of weight.  Lighten the load and it'll lower your gas expenses heftily.

We've already discussed how inattention to proper auto maintenance and repairs can cause you to spend more money on gas than you need to, but that's not the only effect car maintenance and repairs (or lack thereof) have on your efforts to economize your automotive expenses.

A job poorly done is usually a job that has to be redone and, in many cases, a poor maintenance or repair job can lead to further problems and greater expenses.  That's why the best thing you can do for any car is to care of its health like you would (or should) your own.

Find a mechanic you can trust (as alluded to earlier in this article).  Word of mouth is probably the most reliable way to find a mechanic you can feel safe going to, as nobody knows better than your neighbors which mechanics operate with integrity and which ones are money-grubbing swindlers.  Find yourself a skilled, honest, and established certified mechanic who will help you address both your car's current issues and potential future concerns.  Even if you can't afford to have your mechanic do all the things he thinks your car needs right away, he can help you come up with an order of priorities.  Your home budget software can then help you come up with a timeline for dealing with them.

Most of us prefer not to pour any more money into our vehicles than necessary, waiting until a problem actually rears its ugly head before confronting it.  But you can save a lot of money later on by listening to your (skilled and honest) mechanic today when he points out potential problems with your vehicle that can be addressed for far less money now than it would cost to fix later should you ignore them for too long.

Again, as with your own health, preventative care is a critical part of owning a car, as it is too with responsible personal money management.

Kenneth C. Kelly is the President of Strativia, a financial management software development and services company specializing in applications for personal and business use.  Strativia is the developer of Budget Forecaster, a sophisticated home budget and personal finance management software package.  Website: http://www.strativia.com/.  Contact: info@strativia.com. 

Budgeting & Personal Finance

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