There is no doubt that driving can be expensive, and when you are on a budget, you may struggle to afford the many costs involved with getting from A to B. 

These costs include replenishing fuel, engine oil and coolant, replacing tires, servicing, repairs, replacement parts, and labor costs.

On top of this, you are looking at yearly insurance and tax, as well as the cost of buying a car outright in the first place.

If you don’t know a great deal about cars, then this can be a lot to process. After all, if a mechanic quotes you a certain price for a repair or trying to lower your insurance costs, you won’t know what a fair price is supposed to be.

However, there are actually a number of different actions you can take to make driving more affordable, including doing your own repairs, learning to drive more economically, and maintaining your car to a higher standard.

This is the ultimate guide to making driving more affordable:

One of the most significant costs involved with driving is car insurance. While there is no getting around the fact that you will have to pay it, you can certainly aim to reduce the cost by improving your driving record, moving to an area suffering less crime, and making an effort to shop around to find the best deals. 

You can find quotes at Root Insurance.

Another driving cost that will add up considerably over time is fuel. 

Again, there is no avoiding the gas station, but there are certainly ways to prevent you from visiting it quite as often.

You should learn to drive more economically (i.e., to use less fuel), which isn’t actually as hard as you’d imagine. 

To use less fuel, you need to drive more smoothly. Be easy on the gas pedal and avoid using full throttle. You should also think ahead to prevent yourself from slowing down unnecessarily. If a car is braking ahead, then ease off the throttle earlier, rather than slamming on the brakes and then the accelerator again.

Furthermore, using the highway is a great way to save fuel because you don’t have to use as much throttle. Saving fuel is about being better at using momentum to carry you forward rather than leaning heavily on the gas pedal, so prolonged highway cruises at a consistent speed can increase economy. 

If you want to spend less money on the road, then you should start to learn how to look after your car yourself. Not only is this a highly useful skillset to learn (no one wants to be broken down on the highway, after all), but it will save you a lot of money with repair jobs. 

Instead of whisking it away to the local garage, you could learn to do minor jobs yourself - such as changing your oil, changing tires, and replacing body panels. 

Similarly, this will help you maintain your car better. Often, cars go wrong because they run out of oil, are given the wrong fuel, or are just generally neglected due to a lack of mechanical sympathy. 

Once you know how a car works, you will be more likely to look after it.