Shorter Commutes Save Money!
Posted by: info | May 23, 2007
On average, Americans are commuting further than ever before. Some people prefer to live in a smaller city or out in the country. Others like to be close to their family or friends. Whatever your reason for choosing to commute further, it will cost you money and valuable time.
Time is something you can never get back. The more time you spend traveling and in your car, the less time you will have with your family and friends. A person with a 1 hr. commute can add a full extra day of work to their schedule. Take 1 hr. each way, for a total of 8 hrs. a week. With many Americans working more than ever, time has become much more valuable.
Longer commutes can cause auto insurance rates to go up as well. One factor that determines a policy is mileage. If your commute is longer, your mileage will be more as well. In turn, this will end up adding money to your premium.
Gas prices are rising as well. I can’t remember paying more than $3.00 for a gallon of gas. Your gas budget can double or triple, with a longer commute. The price of fuel probably won’t drop significantly in the near future. So keep this in mind before considering a long commute.
Also, you have a lot more wear and tear on your vehicle with a longer drive to work. Tires, oil changes, tune-ups and normal maintainence work will need to be done much more, due to the commute. The value of any vehicle drops with high mileage. People with long commutes can drive 2-4 times the normal driver. This will make it much harder to get a good deal if you decide to sale or trade-in your vehicle. Also car buyers will have a very hard time or have negative equity built up in their auto loan.
How can someone shorten a long commute? Their is hope of cutting down your drive time. More Americans are commuting now and this increases your chance of catching or taking part in car pooling to work. This is a group of people taking turns driving to work or school each day. One person may drive a day or a week. Then the next driver will do the same. So car pooling can cut gas, mileage and car maintence down in half or a third. This depends on the number of people involved in the car pool.
A shorter commute can allow people to sleep later, gain more time and save money on lunches. It is very nice to get up an hour later or go home for an hour during lunch. This can save money and allow more time for relaxing. These are some things a person should consider before jumping into a new property. Is the extra drive worth the extra money and lost time? Will the longer commutes and traffic add stress?
Tags: commutes, commuting, auto insurance rates, negative equity, traffic, stress, gas budget, drive time
Posted in: Insurance, Mortgages, Debt Relief, General |
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