Save Money by Selling Your Car?
September 3, 2009
Selling your car could save you significant amounts of money over the long term on maintenance, parking, insurance, and fuel according to the Financial Planning Association. Of course not everyone can go without a vehicle but here are some questions to ask yourself if you’re considering selling your car to help save money.
What’s the current and projected cost of your automobile? Most people have never taken time to determine what they actually spend on their car during any one-month period. Spend the next month tracking everything you do with your automobile. Measure how often you drive to work, how often you drive to activities, and how often you run errands. Write down what you spend on parking, fuel, insurance and any service-related issues that crop up.
Use resources like Edmund’s Car Buying Guide to price your car in the used market and maybe check the same model that’s a few years older to see how pricing has held up. Start building a picture in your head of whether your paid-off car is worth keeping long-term.
Rethink your driving behavior. How easy would it be for you to replace a typical car ride with public transportation, a bike, or a relatively short, safe walk to your destination? Obviously someone who has to make several sales visits a day can’t easily substitute a car, but someone with a “9 to 5” office or factory job might be able to save a significant sum by experimenting with another transportation option.
The same goes for non-work-related transportation. Can you consolidate shopping trips so you’re not constantly driving to the grocery store or shopping center?
Could car-sharing work? Renting a car doesn’t make good financial sense for everyday use, but see if there’s an opportunity to rent cars on an hourly or daily basis for short-term errands and destinations. The “car-sharing” movement has produced both independent companies and nonprofits that rent cars by the hour that customers can use for errands or a short time period.
These companies often park customers’ cars right in the neighborhoods where they need them. Keycard technologies allow access to the cars and customers typically reserve and pay for the cars online.
How’s your health? It’s one thing to say you’ll dump your car and ride a bike, walk to work or use public transportation. It’s another to make those decisions if you’re not sure you’re healthy enough to do so.
If you are sedentary, significantly overweight or have other health issues, make sure you can make a gradual transition to these alternatives without a negative strain on your health.
Check government incentives: On Jan. 1, the Bicycle Commuter Act went into effect, which offers consumers who commute regularly on bike, a tax benefit of up to $20 a month. That might not sound like much, but add up the savings from parking, gas and insurance costs, and the financial advantage to biking starts to add up.
It also makes sense to check if there are state and local tax incentives to make the switch, and if your local government offers or has plans to offer safe places to lock your bike as well as safe locker and shower space to allow you to store your gear and get ready for work.
See if your employer will cut you a break: Employers are thinking more about transportation solutions that are not only green but improve the health of employees.
Biking, walking and taking public transportation generally exposes employees to more physical activity (generally good for health insurance costs) while allowing employers to say they’re encouraging a better environment. Contact your human resources department to check whether they offer discounts and incentives for any of these choices.
Driving my cars into the ground while carefully observing my habits has worked for me very well. I’ve only bought a brand new car once in my life.
Good point about employers. I know some companies will bend start and end times to catch buses, trains, and car pools.
Mike
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