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The current economic conditions make things uncertain, something that is a concern for both business and individuals as budgets become tighter. However, the important thing to remember is that while we can't stop prices from rising, what we can manage are our overall costs and proactive cost management can make a big difference.
This week at Arval we launched a computer model which supports businesses in understanding their total vehicle costs and identifying how they can manage them down. However, it's not just at a company level that costs can be reduced. Individual drivers can do a lot to control their vehicle costs too.
Right at the start of the process, vehicle choice has a huge impact on costs. Putting the purchase price to one side, choosing one car over another may dramatically alter your outlay. The type of car that you drive and its CO2 emissions has implications in terms of road tax, fuel consumption, congestion charges and company car tax.
Although, as a word of caution, it's no good choosing a really efficient car if you don't drive it efficiently. The speeds that you drive, the gears that you use, how fast you take it around corners and even the amount of weight that you carry will impact upon how much it costs you to run in fuel.
Plus if you're a fast driver you may be opening yourself up to hidden costs. Being caught speeding won't just add points to the license but will hit you in the pocket. The thing about any fine is that they are expensive and all totally avoidable. So whether it's parking tickets, using your mobile phone whilst driving or any other dangerous behaviour, this is a cost that can easily be eradicated.
Journey planning is something that we should always take time over. This can range from the time the journey takes place, allowing you to miss the traffic and use less fuel, to plotting your way around a congestion charge. By planning a route there may be scope to cut out mileage or for some of us it may be that the journey doesn't actually need to take place.
Many of the things that we can do will save us money because they reduce our fuel use. The petrol stations that you fill up at, driving style and journeys that you take all make a significant difference. So the message is; its not just businesses that can proactively manage their costs, individuals can too, reducing the pain that we are all feeling from the current economic climate.
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