Motoring MoneySaving 40 quick tips to cut driving costs

Don't assume third party cover is cheapest

The minimum level of cover to legally drive on the road is known as 'third party' insurance. Nope, it isn't where you end up after a long night out – it's a specific type of insurance that covers you for any damage to another vehicle, and protects passengers in your car.

It used to be the cheapest type of cover, but bizarrely, fully comprehensive policies can be cheaper for some. This is because selecting it may mean you're considered a lower risk profile. So if you were planning on third party, also get a comprehensive quote.

Logically, third party insurance should be cheapest as it offers lesser cover than fully comp – yet this isn't always the case.

To illustrate this, in one low-risk driver quote we found £290 for fully-comprehensive, compared to £406 for third party. It isn't a hard rule, but always make sure you get quotes for third party and fully comprehensive. But remember that with third party you and your car aren't covered so it's less likely to pay out.

To get max quotes at speed, combine comparison sites MoneySupermarket* and GoCompare*, then check the policy's right and see if cashback's available. Always check your policy, so you know exactly what you are and aren't covered for in the event of a claim. For full info, see the Don't assume third party's cheapest guide.

Earn up to 3% cashback on all petrol spends

Buying fuel's the biggest regular expenditure for most people, whether using a card or cash. There are opportunities to save, below is a quick tip, but see the Cheap Petrol guide for full info.

• Pay the right way. Here's a nifty trick. Cashback cards pay a percentage when you spend on them, which soon adds up; using a 3% cashback card on a £50 weekly fuel spend earns you £80 a year.
  
  The Santander 123* card pays 3% on petrol (up to £300/mth spent).

Use hidden MOT centres for fewer fails

Regular MOTs are a must for any vehicle. Yet as their maximum cost is fixed at £54.85 for cars, it's not the test fee but repairing the fails that makes the biggest dent.

If you've had problems with Del Boy dealerships in the past, little-known council-run MOT centres don't do repairs so there's no vested interest to fail you.

The UK council MOTs list includes over 100 test centres to give your vehicle the best chance of passing. Thousands report a massive difference; here's one MoneySaver's story:

Don't buy premium fuels for standard cars

Many petrol stations sell ‘high performance' fuels, yet there’s little or no performance difference for most standard cars.

So for an easy saving, don't fill up with the super fuels unless you've a sports car that you've been advised will actually utilise the petrol correctly.

The AA's told us that for most, high performance fuels are too pricey for regular use. But if you're keen, it suggests using three tankfuls in a row to keep the engine clean and efficient, then revert to normal fuel.

Check photo licence expiry or risk £1k fine

Photocard licences came into force in 1998. By July 2011, 1.7 million photocard driving licences were out of date, according to the DVLA, with one in three holders carrying an expired card.

• Check yours now. If it's out of date, see the Is your driving licence valid? guide for full info on how to renew.

You can be fined up to £1,000 if you drive while your photocard's expired, yet it’s £20 to renew – an annoying cost but a far more MoneySaving option.

Under the new system, photos must be replaced every 10 years
(no matter how young you look)

Make cash from your driveway

If you live in a city, near an airport or footie stadium, or anywhere where parking's pricey, your driveway may be paved with gold. Rent out a parking space and you could make £200 a month or more.

These are some quick tips but you can find full info plus the list of the big parking sites to try, as well as what to watch out for, in the Rent Your Parking Space guide.

• Quickly find what yours is worth. For long-term parking, Park Let has a handy interactive map that helps calculate how much you could get for your space, or try Parkatmyhouse* for short term parking.

Haggle on breakdown cover at renewal

On expiry, don't just accept the renewal price. Many firms quote highly-inflated costs which are easily beatable by asking for the deals given to new customers.

Our poll on battering down costs showed haggling success rates are huge: 73% of AA customers and 59% of RAC customers who tried to haggle were successful in slashing the price they pay.

Save 60% on fuel by changing driving habits

It's possible to drive the same distance in the same time, yet use much less fuel, to chop up to 60% off your petrol or diesel costs – without cutting your top speed. Here are a few pointers to get you started, see the Drive more efficiently guide for more:

• Accelerate gradually without over-revving. Press harder on the pedal and more fuel flows. Get to the same speed using less power, stay under 3,000 revs.
• Drive in the correct gear. Always drive in the highest gear possible without labouring the engine.
• Slow naturally. Rather than brake frequently, let your car slow naturally and use its stored momentum.
• Think about road position. To do all this takes road awareness. The more alert you are, the better you can plan ahead and move gradually.

Your accelerator's a money pump. The harder you press, the more cash is turned into fuel. Your brake is a money burner; press it and the speed you paid for converts into heat.

Do a pre-MOT check to beat common fails

Thirty-five percent of MOTs fail first time, and far too many are due to a simple avoidable reason. Yet often, fixing this is common sense, not mechanical sense.

Some fails you can fix yourself, others will need a professional. Either way, sorting it pre-test's usually cheaper. Here are the main points to check, see the Pre-test checklist for the full list:

• Are all lights fully working? Have someone sit in the car while you walk around checking every light: front, rear, headlights and dipped, hazards and indicators. If needed, buy a new bulb for a few quid and replace.
• Check suspension. While a full suspension check's difficult, to see if the shock absorbers have gone, quickly apply your weight to each corner of the car, then release. It should quickly settle back, but if not, it's possibly a shock problem.
• Is there tension on the handbrake? This is tricky to do yourself, so will need a mechanic to fix. If brakes feel loose and unresponsive, or the handbrake slides up without resistance and can't be put at a set level, it's likely there's a problem.

One in five fail MOTs due to a bust light bulb, so walk around and check your car's front & back indicators & headlights

57% who fight unfair parking tickets win

Getting an unfair parking ticket from an official body, such as a council or the police, is a sting in the tailpipe.

See the Parking Ticket Appeals guide for step-by-step info on what to do, but here are some quick tips first.

If you've got a good case, it's well worth fighting it, given 57% who take their appeal to the independent tribunal win.

You normally have the right to appeal twice to the body that issued the ticket. If that fails, then take your challenge to the independent adjudicator. If your car's been clamped or towed away you can appeal once to the council/police, then to the independent tribunal.

Car insurance is a must - even if not driving

It's a common misconception that cars don't need insurance when not driven. In fact, legally, cars must be insured unless declared off road, unless they've been untaxed since Jan '98.

The Continuous Insurance Enforcement scheme came into effect on 20 June 2011, stating all cars must be insured, even if no one drives them (see Compulsory car insurance news).

Break the rules and there's a £100 fine followed by clamping, seizure or having the car destroyed, though warning letters come first. The aim's to crack down on two million uninsured drivers by matching up the database of cars and insured drivers.

Even if you let cover lapse during holidays or hospital stays, you're breaking the law.

The only way out's to apply for a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) declaring the car will never be driven – to apply, see the Directgov website.

• Warning! Don't just auto-renew car insurance to avoid a fine. Diarise six weeks before renewal and check for the best deal; see the Cheap Car Insurance guide.
  

Combine comparison sites for cheapest
quote from 100+ insurers in minutes

Comparison sites zip your details to hosts of insurers' and brokers' websites, scraping their data to report back the cheapest.

Here are some quick tips on using them. See the Combine comparison sites guide for the full list, plus a comprehensive step-by-step system to cut costs.

As comparison sites don't all compare the same firms, you need to combine them to maximise the spread of quotes. We've analysed the order that gets the maximum quotes in the minimum time. Here are the main ones to try:

• First use GoCompare* and MoneySupermarket*, which compare 145 providers between them. Then check Aviva* and Direct Line* – the ones they don't include.

The record using the full system is 96p for a year's fully comprehensive cover – let us know if you beat it.

Only drive occasionally? Consider car clubs

Car clubs claim to be a cost-effective way to drive by removing insurance, breakdown and maintenance costs. Yet joining, rental and annual fees mean that they only tend to be appropriate for those who use them infrequently and make short journeys each time.

Before joining, carefully weigh up if it's worth it based on your circumstances. Here's some general feedback on pros and cons from MoneySavers, though it varies by company so always check. See more tips and let us know how you've got on in the car clubs cost cutting hunt:

Driving abroad: is your UK licence valid?

A UK driving licence is accepted throughout the EU, but if planning a road trip further afield, check if you'll need an International Driving Permit (IDP).

See the Is your driving licence valid? guide for full details, but here is the key info.

An IDP is required or recommended in about 140 countries, including the USA, Thailand and India. Drive without one where it's needed and you risk trouble with the authorities, and may be refused a hire car.

It's in booklet format and there are two types, known as the 1926 and 1949 Conventions (they're the same price). Which you'll need depends on where you're off to.

Beware websites selling 'international driving licences' – these aren't legally recognised documents, so don't get caught out.

Halve hire costs in minutes

Holiday car hire can save a hefty whack on taxis to and from the airport, and can be invaluable if you're on a family getaway. If you're definitely going to need it (see below for alternatives), ensure you book the right way.

Find full details of current deals, tips 'n' tricks in the car hire further discounts note. Here are the key points:

• Define your requirements. There's often a mass of costly add-ons on offer, such as air con, sat navs and extra drivers. Before you book, work out what you need and ditch the rest.
• Quickly compare quotes. Next, take the legwork out of your search by using the right comparison sites to grab the most quotes in the least time. Our top picks are Kayak*, CarRentals* and TravelSupermarket*.
• Check for extra discounts. See if you can squash the price further via flydrive package deals, cashback, specialist travel brokers and online vouchers.

The earlier you book car hire, the more you'll usually save.

Grab cheap MOTs if you're sure your car will pass first time

If your car's in perfect condition and you'd be surprised if it failed anything, check the Current MOT offers listing for the latest deals to get your test as cheaply as possible.

Also check your local garages to see if they'll match the lowest possible MOT test fee you can find. It's also worth hunting around for one-off promotions and cashback deals (read the Cashback Sites guide first for a full explanation).

De-clutter your car to cut fuel costs

Fuel price rises can be a painful addition to motoring costs. But even with petrol price hikes, some basic maintenance can help put the brakes on your fuel bill and help you save up to 30%:

• Keep your tyres inflated.
  Efficiency Improvement: Up to 3%. Lower tyre pressure increases the drag on a car meaning you need more fuel, so regularly check the pressures are correct.
• De-clutter your car.
  Efficiency Improvement: Up to 2%. The lighter your car is, the less effort it needs to accelerate. So de-clutter: clear junk from the boot, and ditch unnecessary weight.
• Take your roof rack off.
  Efficiency Improvement: Up to 2%. A roof rack adds massive wind resistance, increasing drag and making the engine work harder. If you don't need it, remove it.
• Turn off air conditioning at lower speeds.
  Efficiency Improvement: Up to 8%. Air con uses an incredible amount of fuel, so turn it off unless really needed. The general consensus is it's more efficient to drive with the windows down and the air con off at lower speeds, but at higher speeds it's better to use the air con and keep windows up due to the extra drag caused.
• Don't fill it up.
  Efficiency Improvement: Up to 1%. Fuel's heavy, so by filling up you're adding weight. The less fuel your car holds, the more efficiently it drives. Filling up slightly more often and putting less in (1/2 or 3/4 full) will make it more efficient.

Thanks to the RAC for efficiency data; see Make your car more efficient for the full list.

Grab fuel vouchers with your weekly shop

Supermarkets often run petrol promotions, and as their forecourts are usually cheap for fuel, these schemes mean you can make some decent savings.

These offers usually take the form of "spend £50 and get a 5p off/litre voucher", and past discounts have been as big as 10p/litre with a single voucher.

Check the Supermarket petrol deals note for current offers; the best are always in the free weekly email, so sign up to hear about them first.

Get car parts yourself

If you don't mind the legwork, it's possible to make hefty savings on parts by sourcing them yourself. Before getting your motor repaired, ask for separate quotes for fitting and parts, and check if they'd mind just fitting the part if you can find it.

Then get its exact details, including name, type and size, to see if you can buy it yourself for less. Forumites recommend eBay* for cheap car parts, as well as calling independent suppliers and comparing prices online. Amazon's car and motorbike* section's also worth a look. A few forum success stories:

• If your car's still under warranty: If so, the AA's told us you should avoid buying parts yourself and leave the work to the experts to avoid invalidating it.

Add a second driver to cut insurance costs

If you're considered high risk, adding a second driver to the insurance – even if they won't use the car often – can smooth out the average risk, and can even reduce the cost.

Those with an additional record for driving well are likely to help make bigger savings (if your friend's driving style's more Mr T than Knight Rider this probably won't work), but adding anyone that's in a lower risk category than you can help.

It won't always work, but it's worth playing with quotes to check.

• Warning! Don't confuse this with 'fronting', which is illegal. Never add your name as main driver on someone else's car, such as one of your kids, instead of them. This is called fronting and is fraud. When you claim, this'll often be checked out and the insurance will be invalid. It can also lead to prosecution. Don't do it.

Learn to dodge parking tickets

Ever wondered what 'blip' markings on kerbs mean, or if a quick trip to get change is allowed? These are just some of the key points in the Park Right guide.

Parking tickets aren't just irritating, they're hideously expensive. Plus, they may take months to reverse, so arm yourself with the myth-busting Top five parking facts (if you know others who often get ticketed, pass 'em on):

1. There's no standard 'single yellow' parking restriction. You can sometimes park on a single red or yellow line, but there aren't standardised times. There's no shortcut, so always check the road signs.

2. Watch your wheels. Ensure your car's completely within any defined spot, such as a residents' or pay-and-display bay. If one wheel's outside, you risk a ticket.

3. Proudly display your permit or ticket. If you've a special permit (such as a residents' or disabled permit), a warden must be able to clearly read it otherwise you'll often get a ticket. The same goes for pay-and-display tickets.

4. Bank holiday rules vary by council. Many wrongly assume you can park anywhere on bank hols. Some councils allow parking in residents bays or on a yellow line, others won't. There's no hard and fast rule; if unsure, don't do it.

5. Beware EVERYTHING in private car parks. Rules change on private land or in private car parks – whether supermarkets, hospitals or elsewhere. You can be asked to pay huge amounts without reason, so check signs and be cautious.

Find the cheapest petrol station in seconds

Before you fill up, use the free website PetrolPrices to find the cheapest petrol, diesel and LPG near you. After registering, enter your postcode and and it'll list the cheapest forecourts in your area.

The Find the cheapest fuel note's filled to the brim with ways to save, including a quick tool to show the target cheapest price to aim for in your area.

Young drivers avoid £1,000s in insurance costs with specialist policies

Finding affordable young drivers' car insurance can be a nightmare – the average for a 17-22 year old is £2,250. The Young Drivers' Car Insurance guide is a step-by-step system to help, with tips to slice off every spare penny. Here are the key points:

• Pay when or how you drive. Specialist 'pay when you drive' and 'pay how you drive' schemes are worth checking to see if they undercut comparison site quotes. With these, a GPS or tracking device is fitted to your car, so what you pay can depend on your mileage, time you drive or driving style.
• Specific young driver brokers. While comparison sites are good for standard drivers, for others they can under-perform, so check specific young driver brokers separately (full listings in the guide).
• Learner driver insurance. Learners are often added to parents' or friends' car insurance as an additional driver which can up the cost, and put the principle driver's no claims bonus at risk. Yet you can get specific policies just for the provisional driver instead.

Got a ticket from a private firm?
It's an invoice NOT a fine

Some private companies try to make their tickets look as official as possible. Yet if unfairly ticketed on private land, such as a supermarket car park or a private road, it's likely to be a private ticket – don't pay automatically!

See the Reclaim Private Parking Tickets guide for full info but remember, often, the fines are hugely-inflated as many firms are unregulated, signage is unclear and there's little sympathy for the poor motorist.

Anecdotal reports suggest most people taking on unfair private company parking tickets win. This is the flip side to the lack of regulation; while firms feel they can charge willy-nilly, we can refute it on the same basis.

Haggle down tyre costs

New tyres can be pricey, but it's essential to make sure you keep them above the 1.6mm legal minimum tread depth to let surface water slip through. To measure, use the quick 20p tyre test detailed on the TyreSafe website.

Pop a 20p coin on its edge into the main grooves of the tyre tread. If the outer rim of the coin is hidden, your tyres are legal, but if you can see it, get them changed.

Yet don't just go for the first quote you get. It's possible to make big savings by ringing round local garages for the cheapest quote on the ones you want, then see if you can lower the price further by haggling it down.

This can make a big difference to the price, particularly if you're replacing more than one tyre. Here are a few success stories from the forums for inspiration:

Give it a try. See Haggle on the high street for tips, and report your successes on the Cheap tyres discussion.

Swap Clubcard points for cheap RAC cover

If you're a Tesco shopper, hoard your Clubcard points and you can use them to get cheap breakdown cover.

How does it work? Spend Tesco Clubcard vouchers on goods or services listed in its Rewards brochure and you get back up to four times their face value.

Which policies can I get? One of the deals offered is an RAC roadside recovery policy, meaning you can sometimes get it at about a third of the high street cost. Not all the usual packages are available, see the Tesco Clubcard RAC table for the range on offer.

Protect your no claims bonus

For every year you don't claim on your insurance you get a discount, which can make a big difference to costs. If you claim, you usually lose two years off this discount – a deliberate tactic to encourage you not to claim.

You can get a protected no-claims discount so claims don't impact the discount. Some schemes also offer an accelerated no-claims bonus, eg, giving a year's bonus after ten months, such as Admiral's* Bonus Accelerator; see Protect your no claims bonus.

• Beware price rises. Remember, if you have an accident, even if you don't claim, in order to keep your no-claims discount, you should report it or risk invalidating your insurance.
  
  As a result, the price of the policy can still rise. Having a discount is one thing, but if you're seen as more of a risk (which happens when you have an accident) the price is still likely to rise, because this is a separate calculation insurers make when determining costs.

Bag a free parking tips mini guide

The Glovebox Parking Aid is a free printable PDF mini-guide to help combat unfair parking tickets, clamping or towing. It's designed to sit in your car ready for action if the worst happens, for essential info at your fingertips when you need it most.

In it, there's help on what to do at the scene, how to avoid tickets when parking, as well as common mistakes to avoid when out and about. Print and pop it in your glovebox – you may well be glad you did.

Tweak your job title for cheaper cover

When it comes to insurance quotes, tweaking a job title could save serious cash. Insurers base prices on risk assessments, and your occupation plays an important part.

This isn't about claiming you're a lollipop lady when you work as a stunt driver. But done responsibly, this can really help to lower your policy cost.

To help, we've built a fun Car Insurance Job Picker tool to show the riskiest jobs and see if small tweaks to your job description could save cash. Eg, someone paying £500 a year for car insurance listed as 'builder' could knock off £30 by tweaking it to 'contractor'.

When considering using a different title, always imagine asking a reasonable person who knows what you do for a living. Would they say it's reasonable for you to describe yourself this way?

Don't be tempted to lie

With insurance, remember – the golden rule is:

If you've read these tips and thought, 'it's easy to lie about this', you're right. Yet lying on your insurance form is fraud. It can lead to your insurance being invalid and, in the worst case, a criminal prosecution for driving without insurance. So don't do it.

Even if parking for free, there are catches

In rural or suburban areas you can usually park for free outside a busy part of town where there are no road markings. But there are still basic rules which mean you can't park anywhere that's unmarked:

• Avoid parking near the top of a hill otherwise you may not be seen by approaching vehicles.
• Never park on a bend, for the same reasons.
• Ensure you're not on a red route. Some red routes (busy roads you usually cannot park on) don't have any road marking by the kerb, but this doesn't mean you can park there. They are called red route clearways, with a 'red route clearway' sign at the beginning of the zone marking them. If you see the sign or are unsure, stick with residential streets or roads where many other cars are parked.
• Don't park within ten meters of a junction.
• Don't park where the kerb's been lowered to allow vehicles to access a driveway.

Time your MOT right

Whether you've a banger or a Bentley, your car needs an MOT when it's three years old, then once a year after. However, timing is crucial:

Get a test in the month before the current certificate ends and the new one will expire exactly a year from the original's end date. Yet get it tested more than a month before the MOT's due and it'll expire exactly a year later, so you lose out.

• Always pre-book tests if your certificate's run out.

If your car's out of certification, you can drive it to the test centre provided the test's been pre-booked. If it fails the test, if it's pre-booked, you're allowed to go from the test station to a repair centre. The vehicle still must meet a certain standard of roadworthiness, otherwise you can be fined.

To get a reminder six weeks before your test's due, use the
free Tart Alert tool.

Breakdown cover for less than £10 a year

Whether you've a flashy new convertible or a trusty old banger, there’s no need to pay £100s for breakdown cover. See breakdown best buys for the latest cashback deals and best buy roadside recovery policies to help find the cheapest cover.

You'll also find full info on the different types of policies to make sure you choose the right cover, as well as specialist policies, safety tips and more.

Know where to look and you can often get basic RAC & AA policies for under £10 after cashback, or full service cover for under £40.

Driving to Europe: check insurance, breakdown and road rules

Don't assume you're automatically covered if you're taking your car to the continent. Follow these tips before you set off to ensure you're fully prepared:

• Car insurance. Some comprehensive policies become third party outside the UK (ie, they'll pay if you damage another car but not your own) and you may need to notify it of your trip, so check your policy or call to confirm (see Cheap Car Insurance).
• Breakdown cover. Go outside the UK and often your breakdown cover isn't valid, do a check and if not you can either upgrade to a Euro policy or buy special one-off temporary cover (see Cheap Breakdown Cover).
• Do a maintenance check. Do all maintenance before you go, and ensure you've got manuals and the numbers to call if you break down.
• Driving rules. Check the country-by-country overseas driving regulations on the AA website to make sure you're familiar with the local rules before you go.

Snaffle hidden airport parking discounts

Airports often make more from parking and shopping than planes. Leave the car there without booking first and you risk sky-high rates, yet a quick comparison can halve the cost in minutes.

The Cheap Airport Parking guide has has full listings of the latest discounts, which can help to hammer down your quote, as well as forum discussions for each airport to help uncover hidden local discounts.

Don't just turn up at the airport – booking first, even on the day of your flight, could save money.

Consider car hire alternatives

Before you book car hire, don't forget to consider the alternatives; unnecessary car hire can be an expensive, unused hindrance. Car swaps, public transport and even taking your own car may work out cheaper for some destinations. Go through this checklist first:

• What's the public transport like? For example, in Florida or LA everyone needs a car to traverse the huge city distances, while in New York you can't park anywhere so the subway wins hands down. Many European cities have great public transport links too, so a little research goes a long way.
• How much are taxis? Sometimes car hire's cheaper than just one taxi; eg, a taxi from Malaga airport to Marbella's about €60 each way. Yet you can often get car hire for £70 a week, so even if you never use it again, it wins. Use international taxi fare calculators Holiday Taxis or World Taxi Meter for a benchmark estimate.
• Can you take your own car? If off to Europe, this may be an option. All UK Car Insurance policies automatically provide the min cover required by law in the EU, but check if full cover extends to Europe for full protection. It can be cheap to get breakdown cover for the whole of the EU, see Cheap Breakdown Cover.
• Renting in the UK? Try car swaps. Website WhipCar pairs car owners with available cars and those seeking car rental. It's a relatively new scheme and currently still quite pricey. However, during peak times it may be worth a look. All cars are vetted and covered by Whipcar. See Car hire alternatives for full info.

Don't overestimate motorbike mileage

If you're on two wheels, finding cheap insurance isn't always an easy ride.

The Cheap Motorbike Insurance guide has a step-by-step system to finding the cheapest bike cover for your needs, with tips on security, mileage, no claims and more.

One of the key points is big name insurers think motorbike, moped and scooter insurance is risky and steer clear, leaving smaller companies to cover the market.

Yet it's possible to save £100s on cover if you know where to look. While many of the methods to save are similar to car insurance, there are a few issues that are specifically for motorbike and scooter cover:

• Mileage. If you also drive a car, don’t overpay because you’ve overestimated bike mileage. Many riders don’t use their bike as their main transport, but use their car mileage to estimate bike distances. Yet the average bike does just 4,000 miles a year.
  
• Age of riders. Insurance costs jump if you're under 30, and even more if under 21.
  
• Security. This is a big problem for bike owners. If you keep it indoors or locked to a proper bolt fixed to your wall you'll get a cheaper quote. Yet if spending £100s on a lock, it may not substantially reduce the quote price, so balance this.
  
• Protect your no claims. Whilst one claim free year on a car insurance policy will give you around 15%-20% discount in your second year, for motorbikes this scoots up to 40%. Remember this whenever you’re considering claiming.

Halve parking costs with a private space

If you drive to work, pay for monthly parking, or just pay over the odds for your regular Saturday morning space, you could halve parking costs by renting a private space.

It should only take a few seconds to get a rough idea of the savings. Try Park Let's Price Guide Tool, which gives an idea of parking prices across the UK on a Google map.

Drag the area of the map you'd like to park in under the 'X'. You can decrease the search radius, or filter by contract type (ie, with or without weekends) via the top dropdowns.

It only finds the best price Park Let can offer, so even if the saving's good, only use it as a benchmark price to be beaten by other sites.

Once armed with Park Let's best price, try comparing Parkatmyhouse* and YourParkingSpace, and if you're willing to dig a bit more, Gumtree, for cheaper spots in the same area. See the cheaper parking tips note for full info and safety tips.

Security's a potential downside to parking privately, especially if you've a flashy motor, so always check this out.

Try the petrol diet

No, we don't advocate swigging the stuff – it's a challenge on the MSE forum, where MoneySavers share tips to cut their fuel spend.

It's free to join in, open to all, and has loads of handy tips to help put your fuel usage on a diet to trim up your finances. See the Petrol Diet Discussion to find ideas and share your thoughts.

It's about pain-free, speedy ways to make your car and driving more efficient – and put you back in control of your fuel bill.

Cut fuel costs through car share schemes

A quick way to reduce your fuel bill is simply to drive less. No, we don't mean hiring a chauffeur – share the journey with friends or colleagues. These sites help connect you to others planning the same journey:

• Liftshare. Register your details on Liftshare (it says it doesn't use these for marketing purposes) and enter the journey you'd like to share. Then check its map for matching commuters, plus you can opt for weekly or monthly emails alerting you to new matches.
  
  The site's been going since 1998 and has over 400,000 people registered so in cities there's a fairly good chance of getting a match. Liftshare reckons an every day commuter sharing a journey can save around £800/year.
• Carpooling. Website Carpooling (formerly Rideshare) lets you see possible matches before registering, then lets you register to get in touch if you find a match.
  
  It has 3.3 million registered users across Europe, not just the UK, and is better for longer trips. For extra safety, it also allows you to only travel with 'authenticated' users who have proven their ID.

Find full car-share info, safety and insurance tips in the share driving note.

Grab free maps, cycle guides, travel mags ...

There's a mass of goodies available for free at the click of a mouse, if you know where to look. Visit the travel and motoring freebies section of the full freebies guide to find loads of driving goodies for nowt.

Motoring freebies have included maps, practice theory tests, van stickers, travel magazines, cycle guides and even a free motorbike trip, so get going!

Carefully check van insurance terms

Whether your van's used for removals, family holidays, or Mr Whippys, as with car insurance, it's possible to save hundreds by switching.

Though many of the issues are the same as for car owners, there are important issues that are specific to vans. Here are a few to get you started, find the full list and cost-cutting system in the Cheap Van Insurance guide:

• Business or pleasure? If using a van for your business, make sure the policy covers business use, not just social and domestic.
• Speedy repairs. If your van's damaged or stolen, it may be out of action which could hit your livelihood. If so, look for a policy that repairs or replaces quickly.
• Contents. Vans' lack of windows make them more attractive to thieves. Check policies before buying to make sure anything left inside overnight is covered.
• Breakdowns. Most vans are heavily used, increasing chances of breaking down. Some policies include breakdown cover, but separate cover's often cheaper.

Find extra public transport discounts

Public transport may be a more MoneySaving alternative to driving, particularly if your once-economical motor is now a fuel-guzzling monster. You easily can cut costs further:

• The Cheap Train Tickets guide is crammed with tips on getting standard rail travel for less, from split ticketing to the full list of railcard discounts, plus how to use Tesco vouchers to get ultra-cheap tickets.
• Train and bus companies often discount heavily with regular sales to fill seats; promotions have included £1 train and bus tickets across the UK, and London to Scotland for under £20. See Cheap Trains & Coaches deals for the latest.

Cheap train and coach ticket offers go quick. To hear about them as soon as they're released, sign up to the free weekly email.

Alternatively, get your skates on (or your trainers, rollerblades or unicycle!) if it's a short journey. Going by foot's a far healthier alternative, and it's MoneySaving too.

Share your tips on the motoring forum

The Motoring, Public Transport and Cycling forum board is a fantastic place to share your ideas and swap tips on all aspects of being on the road.

Whether you want to learn to drive for less, find free car journey games or get tips on buying a second-hand car, there's something for everyone.

Sell your car and stop driving

OK, it's a radical thought, and it's not right for everyone. Yet if your motor costs a fortune, it's worth considering: do you really need it? Or if you have two cars, do you need them both?

Think how much you would get from selling it, how much you'd save on insurance, tax, fuel and repairs compared to the cost of getting public transport.

Not only would it save you money, you'd be doing your bit for the environment. See some of the forum discussions for other people's experiences of selling their motor.

Wear your free MSE car sticker with pride!

If you've found this checklist useful, pass it on – and if you want to show others you're proud to be a MoneySaver, get the free official MSE car sticker (you know you want to!).