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Save money on fuel and ease the stress of finding an EV charging point this summer
Driving long distances on summer holidays can be a stressful time for everyone, especially families. With petrol stations changing fuel prices frequently, the best price at one station one day may not be the best price the next. It’s even more difficult to know where the cheapest fuel is when driving in unfamiliar places during the summer holidays. It’s a problem many of us are worried about as a recent survey revealed – more than half of drivers (53%) are concerned about rising prices and the cost of filling up their fuel tank.
Summer holiday driving stress can be compounded if you’ve got an EV car – you may be worried about how and when you are going to charge your car on a long journey. The UK’s network of chargers is growing considerably – …
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10 ways to reduce car hire costs
A recent survey conducted by iCarhireinsurance.com revealed that a mere 38% of UK drivers take advantage of comparison sites to secure the best rates when looking for cars to hire. But comparison sites aren’t the only ways to save….here are 10 other ways:
- Early Bird Gets the Worm, But Last-Minute Deals Shine Too: Booking your car hire early ensures you get your preferred vehicle at a favourable rate. However, don’t overlook last-minute checks for price drops if your chosen provider offers free cancellations. For example, for a week’s early summer hire in Faro, Hertz quoted £265, while Sixt quoted £110.
- Avoid Main Transport Hubs: Consider renting from locations slightly away from primary airports or train stations. This often results in considerable savings that outweigh the cost of an extra taxi ride.
- Save on Excess Protection:
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How roadside assistance saved me from a costly dealer visit
Roadside assistance isn’t just for breakdowns. Two warning lights and a three-week wait for a diagnostics test at a main dealer was worrying me. I asked the dealer if the car was safe to drive and they said to call our roadside assistance and they will confirm……..here’s the whole story:
As I was driving along, I was greeted by an amber ABS light and a “DSTC temporarily off” warning. Naturally concerned about the safety implications, my first thought was to take it to the dealership. I recalled the hefty fees from past visits, typically, just the diagnostic visit costs around £145, and that doesn’t even include the parts, but safety first, especially as my kids use my car!
When I called the dealership, the service person informed me that a diagnostic appointment could take up …
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How I have made over £15,000 from renting out my parking space
In July 2014, I wrote about how I earn money from JustPark, to rent out a space that lies empty on my drive. Back then I had earned £712 over a year, but that has increased and this is where I am today at £15,770 since I started in 2013.
The parking space has done so well that I decided to pave the tiny bit of overgrown weed-filled “lawn” next to it, put in proper drainage, and now also rent that out, so increasing my earning potential.
The paving over was expensive – £3,200 – but I will earn that back in under two years, so the investment is worth it.
If you are considering renting out your space, great locations are near stations, tube stops, town centres, airports, stadia and business parks. Parking …
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Tips for getting a good deal on multi-car insurance
Is it time to stop insuring each car in your household separately? Multi-car insurance has increased in popularity over recent years and there are some decent deals around at the moment.
Not only is it more convenient, but it also has the potential to deliver strong cost savings for your annual premiums.
What is multi-car insurance?
Rather than insuring each car in your household separately, you can choose to cover every vehicle under one policy. As long as the car is registered at that address, it can be included. The car owner doesn’t have to be a family member.
What’s so great about multi-car insurance?
The first benefit is convenience. Once you get it set up, everything is in one place. All you have to do is fill in one application and you’re good to …
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Two pay per hour car insurance companies
The way insurance is sold hasn’t kept up with the way people live their lives now. We buy lots of goods and services via flexible subscriptions to suit our on-demand lifestyles. Why shouldn’t you be able to do that for insurance? We just used Cuvva for the first time this weekend for our teenager who is learning to drive. Rather than change my insurance as my insurer won’t insure under 21s, we used Cuvva
Hourly short-term insurance – Cuvva
Cuvva, a UK-based short-term insurance startup, offering hourly car insurance via an app in minutes. Since selling our first policy in 2016, we’ve sold over a million policies. The idea came about after founder Freddy Macnamara couldn’t lend out his car easily, so he set out to build flexible insurance tailored around people’s needs. The company… -
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Choosing the right car insurance first time for young drivers
I have a learner driver in the house so am gathering information about insurance.
I have contacted some industry resources to see what they have to say. You’ve probably heard about a black box, so I got the guys at insurethebox, who make the black boxes, to give me their thoughts and this is what they have to say:
So you’ve passed your test and bought a new car. Well, maybe it’s not new, new, but it’s your first car and you’re ready to hit the road. Not so fast! Now it’s time to choose your car insurance. It’s tempting to just go for the cheapest, but that’s not always the best option.
New drivers are three times more likely to crash in the first three months of their policy, compared to the final …
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What’s the cheapest way to insure a 17 year old boy driver?
What’s the cheapest way to insure a 17 year old boy driver? He will drive my car. This was a question I posed last week and got a number of responses. I thought that they were really interesting so wanted to share some of them with you:
- When I was new it worked out cheapest to get my own insurance and for my mum to go down on it as a secondary driver
- We bought our 17 year old daughter a car went through comparison sites and looked up young driver insurance … her as main driver and me and husband as named £344 on Comparethemarket (no black box ) ……. on young driver insurance with black box and me and hubby £1344
- The price of insurance has a number of factors. Postcode, age male/female
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An easy way to make money with your car – Car Quids
Do you want to make some extra cash with your car, without having to drive any more than you normally do?
Car Quids will pay you to place removable adverts on your car for top brands like Pizza Hut, Go Compare and NSPCC. It’s free to sign up and you won’t need to sign a contract to take part.
Why advertise on your car?
1) You earn extra money each month for driving as you normally would
2) You can win bonus prizes (like free pizzas when advertising for Pizza Hut)
3) It’s fun taking part – you’ll spot other cars with ads as you and it sparks conversations with friends and neighbours
How does it work?
After you’ve signed up Car Quids will match you with a brand that wants to advertise in your …
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New widget helps you to quickly add up annual mileage and fuel costs
Commuters can find out how many miles they travel getting to and from work every year, and how much they spend on fuel, thanks to a ‘Commuter Calculator’ which has been created by Admiral Car Finance.
The tool also tells users how much time is spent in traffic, what the cost of fuel would be if they owned a newer car and how many songs they listen to on their way to work each year – see some of my results below.
The aim of the Commuter Calculator is to give drivers information and statistics about their annual commute, including the total time spent and how much of that is sat in traffic jams, to help them make an informed decision if they are thinking of purchasing a new car, or are just considering …
