It doesn’t matter whether you are road-tripping to Grandma’s house for a family dinner, or you’re planning a cross-country adventure. You need to do whatever is possible to make your entire trip as cheap as you can! Road trips cost money, and you want your trip to be economical, memorable and efficient all in one go.

Your road trip is one that needs to be planned carefully and if you can shave dollars off of everything if you do enough research. For example, not many people know about pay-per-mile insurance, which is a great money saver if you are looking to make sure that this trip doesn’t hit you in the wallet too hard. So, no matter how long your journey is, let’s take a closer look at four ways that you can make this trip of yours far more economical.

1. Firstly, don’t pack too much! We know that the idea of packing light feels ridiculous: you obviously want to pack for all weathers! But the thing is, the heavier your cases, the more you’ll spend on gas due to the weight of the car. When your car is overweight, you put pressure on the car, too, which could mean extra trips to get repairs done. You should encourage everyone joining you to pack light, too, so that you can get as much as possible out of every tank of gas. Anyone who wants to pack too much should throw in another few bucks for gas!
2. Next, choose the right car for your trip. If you’re hiring a vehicle, pick one that’s environmentally friendly and has a great fuel economy, so that you can save money as you drive. If you haven’t got the money to hire a car, look among your friends and family and pick the car with the best fuel economy that runs really well. This will save you further cash as you won’t have to worry about paying out for a hire vehicle.
3. When you’re on your road trip, always plan for the unexpected. You plan for the best memories, but you don’t plan for accidents to happen on the road. Making sure that your car is in the best possible shape with a pre-road trip tune up, and ensuring that you get the right insurance is so important.
4. Lastly, you can save a lot of money by just enjoying the journey. Prepare with entertainment that you can bring with you so that you don’t have to pay for any on the road. Bring puzzle books, car game quizzes and mobile karaoke, too. You can make this a fun road trip without spending through the nose for it along the way!

With the best summer playlist on hand, this can be the best way to bond with family and friends as you make your way along the road. You should try to save your cash so that you can spend it in the right places, rather than in the wrong ones. There’s nothing as good as a cheap trip away!