Holiday Rentals News - Advice on how to keep your driving costs down when on holiday abroad

Advice on how to keep your driving costs down when on holiday abroad

In order to keep your holiday bills down, advice has been issued on how to reduce your driving costs when on vacation. Avoiding road tolls, insurance advice and tips on how to avoid traffic fines are just some of the suggestions.

Keeping your driving costs down when en-route to your holiday home abroad is important as driving becomes ever more expensive, says The Telegraph. If you are driving abroad, either in a hire car or your own vehicle, there are many ways of helping you holiday on a budget.

• Avoid road tolls. When driving to your holiday home in France, try and use cross-country Bis routes and avoid the Routes Nationales. As well as road tolls, you should also save fuel as you will drive at a more economical speed.


• Arrive with an empty tank. If you drive a diesel car, it is often cheaper to fill up across the Channel than in the UK. Try to leave with a full tank too; this will save you money as you won't need to fill up on your return to the UK.


• Choose your hire car with care. If you are hiring a car in Spain, Portugal or France, then choose a diesel car, as diesel is cheaper than petrol in these countries. If your holiday home is in Italy or Greece, petrol is cheaper.


• Buy fuel with your food shopping. It is cheaper to buy fuel in supermarket petrol stations than in service stations in most countries. In France, for example, you should see a saving of about six per cent for petrol, and eight per cent for diesel.


• Take a shorter ferry crossing. Ferry crossing fares are usually significantly cheaper on shorter Channel routes than longer ones. Also, more lower-price fares are available on the shorter crossings, because there are more services.


• Avoid traffic fines. Be aware of speed cameras in continental Europe, as they are almost as widespread as in the UK. In Italy, France and Spain they are well hidden, so pay attention to speed-limit signs. If you are in a built-up area and there is no sign, the limit is likely to be 50kph (31mph) or under.


• Buy care hire insurance independently. Car hire companies often try to add extras to your bill when you pick up your car, including insurance to cover damage. There are several companies that offer cheaper insurance than the car hire company, including dailyexcess.com, worldwideinsure.com, insurance4carhire.com and questor-insurance.co.uk.


• Don't forget your car seat. Car hire companies tend to charge a lot to hire a child's car seat and it is usually much cheaper to take your own. However, if you are travelling on a budget airline that charges a lot for extra hold luggage, you will need to weigh up the costs.


• Buy breakdown insurance. If you are taking your own car abroad, it is a good idea to insure against the cost of breakdown and recovery.

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