How to save for your dream car

If you were to ask anyone on the street what they were saving for, it’s highly likely that the majority of them would have an answer. This is a good thing; it’s far easier to save for something if you know what that something is and how much it will cost. Otherwise, saving can become very vague and you might not be so motivated to do so if you don’t know what you’re doing it for.

Some people – and you may well be included in this group – will be saving to buy a car, and perhaps even their ultimate dream car. If you are saving for this reason, read on for some excellent advice about how to go about it to ensure you are successful.

Make Saving Automatic

If you move your money from your current account to your savings account manually, there could be problems. You might think you’ll leave it a few extra days, just in case anything comes up that you have to pay for. Or you might skip a month altogether, or put in less than you really should because you want some ‘fun money’.

If you make your savings automatic, you won’t have these temptations. The money will move from one account to another without you having to do anything. If you set up the standing order to do this for the day you get paid (or the day after to be safe), you’ll never accidentally spend the money that should be saved – another useful tip.

Ring Fence Your Savings

There will always be things you need – or want – to buy, and that can make saving up for something else very difficult. It’s often extremely easy and tempting to take a little money from your savings account here and there to buy something you wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, and over time, that can deplete your savings to nothing before you realise what has happened.

To stop this from happening, you need to ‘ring fence’ your savings. This means that you shouldn’t have access to your savings account through an app, for example, or any other easy way to get the money out once it is in. If you have an account that you can only access by visiting the bank in person, or making a phone call, you’ll be less likely to take the money out, although you’ll still be able to access it in an emergency, such as if you needed help from https://lostcarkeysmanchester.co.uk, for example.

Set Saving Targets

Saving for a car, particularly if you have a specific vehicle in mind, can be rather daunting. If the sum of money you need is a large one, it might even feel overwhelming, and you could tell yourself that it’s not worth trying because it will take so long to save up. Of course, if you never start, it’s true, you won’t be able to save up and you won’t have the money. However, if you do put money away, even if it’s only a little, you’ll eventually get to where you want to be.

This is why it’s important to have savings targets. If you have a target to reach each month, for example, this will feel less daunting than the overall amount of money you need. This figure could even be flexible; December is often an expensive month because of Christmas, so you might save less, and there will be other months where you can save more. Make a plan and then you can start saving properly.