There are many circumstances in which you may wish to pay off your car loan earlier than you first agreed in your contract.

For some they may have the luck and luxury of falling into some unexpected money and wish to pay off the car loan sooner. For others it is a harder slog and will most likely take some budgeting.

What’s under the hood?

Let’s start this off on your standard comparison rate car loan.

$30,000 over a term of five years at 6% paid weekly. This will equate to approximately $133/week.

* The information above is a guide only. You choose to use this information at your own risk. Please seek financial advice from your accountant before applying for a car loan through 360.

That car loan payment can almost be covered by saving a $50, two x $20s, two x $10s and two x $5s per week. It may seem like a challenge but it may be easier than you think.

Now here is how we break it down; Remember, every dollar counts;

The Fiver

Let’s knock off these two FIVERs or otherwise known as the Fairy Floss, Galah, Skydiver, Pink Lady, Pink Snapper, Prawn, Piglet & Rasher due to their unique pink colour and the uncanny ability of Australians to come up with nicknames for nearly everything.

Our hot tip for this is to use your own banks ATM. Those pesky little charges of $2+ can quickly add up and if you are taking money out more than twice a week, you could be saving at least $5 in unnecessary spending per week.

Another alternative that some people may not know is that you can get money out at the register or self service checkout at the supermarket. Woolworths doesn’t charge a cent to withdraw money and nor does Coles, however at Coles you will need to make a purchase to withdraw money.

The Tenner * 2

How are we possibly going to find that spare $10 per week? Well, let’s look no further than your car. By filling up at the right times of the week at the low point of the fuel price cycle, you can easily save $10. Keeping your tyres pumped up to the optimal pressure can also extend the life of your tyres (long term savings) and will reduce the resistance that the road places on them, thus lowering your fuel costs.

Our tip to save the second tenner is to eat out one time less per week. Generally a $10 meal at home would equate to a $20 to $30 meal at a restaurant. That is a saving of at least a tenner per week.

The $20 * 2

This is where some real savings can be made and in general, you can save much more than a $20/week just by looking at what you drink. Water is free, and healthy! Why not swap just one soft drink/coffee/juice or energy drink per day for a glass of water? Conservatively, you could save $3/day which in total adds up to $21/week. There are even apps to remind you to drink water.

Keep in mind that you may even be saving more if you didn’t put small beverages onto your credit or debit card. Store operators are often charging minimum eftpos fees for minor purchases and these can quickly add up.

The second $20 can be recouped by shopping for your everyday goods at an alternative supermarket, not the big 2, well you know what I mean. Money saving extroardinaire Geri Burgess who looks after the books at 360 mentions that she easily saves $20/week by purchasing items such as dishwashing liquid, canned food, sugar, coffee, biscuits, baby wipes, nappies, frozen veggies, and more from the budget supermarkets. The branding may be different, but who really needs branded hand soap?

The $50

This is where most people will think that there is no way to save $50 per week, but the truth is that many of us are giving away unnecessary money to insurance companies, phone providers and health care funds all the time. A good place to start is by looking at your bank statements and pinpoint any automatic payments you may have coming out of your account. Get out the red pen and circle the gym memberships that you don’t use, the phone bills that somehow creep up and up and make some time to consider switching, cancelling or downgrading these payments. Especially at renewal time, you should compare and save on all of your products.

Many phone plans these days are month to month with no lock in contract and allow you to reduce your plan to suit your usage. You may only be using half of your data and call usage and I’m positive that the telecommunications companies won’t be giving you a call to let you know you can reduce your plan.

Now we haven’t quite covered the entire weekly car loan repayment with our savings tips, however we got pretty close; $13 short in fact. However, even if you don’t strictly adhere to them all, you can still make that car loan seem like a lot less of a hit to the pocket by just following a few.

If you have any ideas of how you can pay off your car loan sooner, post them up on our Facebook or Google+ page to help our customers keep the money in their pockets.