Do your own oil changes. Buying a take-home oil pack is a lot cheaper than topping up at the petrol station.

Never start the engine until you have the seat belts on and are totally ready to go. At the other end, turn off the engine as soon as practical, then turn the key back on without starting the engine to shut the windows etc.

I always get what’s called a ‘Vehicle Information Report’. It tells you things like whether the vehicle has been reported stolen, whether there is money owned on it, how many kms it had done at the last WOF check, its mileage, the number of owners, when the WOF and registration expires, and so on. The […]

When going downhill or coasting in your car if it is left in gear the engine uses no petrol at all compared to taking it out of gear. an engine at idle still uses petrol.

Put your gear in neutral when going down-hill in your car. See how far you can go without changing back into gear (safety first though!). Ellery from Porirua says, “In response to H.C’s tip about using neutral downhill: if the hill is steep enough (e.g. the Ngauranga Gorge), it’s more economical to stay in drive […]

If you run two cars and can manage with one do as we did. Buy a Motor Scooter (runs on the smell of an oily rag). I shopped at supermarket, took home frozen goods, and my husband picked up rest of my shopping on his way home from work. The scooter came with a basket […]

Shop around for parts, especially in places where there are a large number of parts suppliers. An example of this is when we priced a CV joint for a Nissan Sunny. From a wrecker it was $250 and we had to take it off ourselves. The cost of a new part from a dealer was […]

It’s possible to cut travel costs and enjoy driving free rental cars and camper vans in New Zealand by checking out the online transfer deals. Most of the time drivers also receive a free tank of petrol! How does this work? Rental car companies need to reposition their fleet for new hires and usually spend […]