Sorry, these questions have probably been asked to death, and I did try searching but didn't really find anything on point. So...I seek help reducing car costs.
I have a 2010 model Toyota Prius. It's fully paid up - I bought it for cash, and ever since I bought it, I have been putting money away in a savings account for the next car. I've reduced my mileage a lot, but not to real Mustachian levels yet. At the moment, I don't want to give up having a car until my boyfriend and I move in together, and/or I can work a bit closer to home. Either of those things could happen in the next couple of years. But I feel a bit stuck at this point because while I could (and should) bike to work more, reducing my mileage further does not seem to really reduce my costs much, as insurance, maintenance, and saving for the next car are the biggest expenses. I also don't necessarily want to stop saving for the next car yet, even if there's a chance that there may not BE a next car, because life can change - at least that money is still available to me and could be used for other things should I decide to drop the car completely.
According to Mint, my average monthly auto spending since I started tracking in July 2011 has been $278, but if I just look at the last 12 months I've brought that down to $197. These costs include gas, insurance, repairs/maintenance, and occasional parking charges. The decrease in cost is mostly due to not spending a fortune getting my car serviced at the dealer any more, and reducing driving. I put $175 a month aside to save for the next car, which is not included in the $197.
1. How do you guys save on insurance costs? My last insurance payment was $758 for 6 months, so that's $126.33 a month. I got quotes from a few different companies, and could have reduced this by a couple of dollars if I switched company, but not by that much. Most of the quotes I got were for more than this. I live in FL which is not a great place for cheap insurance for anything, it seems. I have also played around with reducing my coverage, and again, it doesn't seem to change things substantially. I'm also not even sure what is the most bang for my buck with car insurance. I don't want to be sued and lose all my savings, and equally don't want to be on the hook if I hit a Bentley or something. Is there a Mustachian recommended level of insurance coverage?
2. With a paid off car which has great gas mileage, is it worth changing to something cheaper? It's not like I'm going to find much better gas mileage than I currently get, and gas is running me about $48 a month on average in the last 12 months. But perhaps a cheaper car would cost a lot less to insure? At what point does the increasing age of my car start to impact insurance costs?
3. I'm learning a bit with the car maintenance, and my boyfriend is teaching me some of the simpler things so I know how to do them myself. But really I'm not ready to change the oil myself yet, for example. Can someone recommend a good website where I can learn how not to get ripped off at an oil change place? Like, how do I know when I really do need them to replace the cabin air filter, or whatever?
Thanks for any help you can give.