Ha! I've done this also. Sometimes I'll introduce my car as its name or ask others if they have a name for their car, and they look at me weird. I never thought of it as a money-saving technique, but maybe it is in a subconscious kinda way. I prefer human names (just like all the dogs I've had*). However, I also like names that are kinda like nicknames, such as solon's ^.
1. No name for crappy cars in high school, didn't care about them.
2. Pam: white Mustang. My crush at the time was The Office character. I thought they were both pretty sexy.
3. Kyra: red Lancer GT. Only name I could think of that sounded both hot and Japanese. Hope that doesn't make me a racist somehow.
4. Red: red Frontier. Not much personality, but gets the job done and reliable. Named thusly to make myself laugh once in a while.
I've thought about how each car I've had was less fun than the one before. I'm worried that'll continue, as I want to have kids by next time (2030?). I surely have a midlife crisis sporty coupe in my future. GF's dad is 60 and has a Miata...that's my inspiration.
*I got a dog in 2016, close to 3 years ago, and named her Abby. Sister had a baby a few weeks ago and named her Abigail. Everyone is calling her Abby. We'll see what happens, but I still feel weird about it.