How far do you drive to save some bucks ?

[HTSS_TR]

For each dollar saved I'm willing to drive up to a mile.

I bought 8 quarts Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle ATF from Walmart 3-4 weeks ago for $4.49/qt + 8.75% tax, then 2 weeks ago I found that Autozone has buy 2 get 1 free, the regular price is $4.99/qt so it works out to $3.33/qt + 8.75% tax. I bought 9 quarts from Autozone and return 8 quarts to Walmart. I saved $6.5 plus 1 extra quart, the total saving was about $10 and the driving distance was 6-7 miles.

I was in the neighborhood of Autozone and Walmart was less than 3 miles from them, the distance of 6-7 miles is the extra on top of regular trip I need to make. If I wasn't in that area in the first place, I would not drive 8 miles to Autozone and then 3 miles to Walmart then 10 miles home for a total of 20 miles to save $10.

 

[crinkles]

fuel costs me 12 aussie cents per km so in order to save 4 cents per litre in fuel, on a 50L tank ($2) I would drive a maximum of 17km.

I basically make use of offers if I am there, but don't drive to town just for a special.

for instance, if the servo up the road has fuel at $1.20, and the one in town has it for $1.18 (Save $1 in fuel), I won't go to town for fuel as the round trip is 25km (cost 3 dollars in fuel). Yet some people do without thinking! in fact the 2 dollars you're down on probably reflects the efficiency of bulk fuel transport between the two towns!

 

[PandaBear]

Depends on how often do things go on sales, oil I'll never go out of my way to buy unless they are free after rebate, so are food, only within the path of my travel along the way or locally.

I'll buy used appliance and furniture that are up to 40 miles away if they can save me $100 or so. Anything else I'd rather buy online.

 

[StevieC]

I look at the total savings and work out the cost per kilometer to get there taking into account gas and wear/tear. If i'm ahead then I drive the distance.

 

[eljefino]

In a week I'm hitting my first retail harbor freight, 620 miles away!

There's a store three hours from here, but I'm driving out to family in Ohio, and there's a store the next town over.

 

[David S.]

Here is a calculator that will let us see if it is worthwhile to drive farther to buy less expensive fuel. It only factors in the extra fuel used to get there and back compared to simply driving to a place that is closer. The results vary depending on what numbers we type.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/auto/gas-price-calculator.aspx

Of course there are other variables such as wearing out the tires, adding miles to the odometer which means we are getting closer to the next oil change, increasing the odds of being in a collision, and so on. I think it all comes down to how much time we want to spend to save a little money. But like crinkles and PandaBear wrote if we are going to be in the more distant area anyway for another reason and that area has something we were going to buy for less (such as fuel) then it makes sense to buy it there.

 

[Kestas]

If I have to go far out of my way to buy something, I'll even consider ordering it from the internet to have it delivered to my home. I save not only gas, but a lot of time. Often the internet price is cheaper than retail. The $5 to $8 shipping is sometimes well worth it.

 

[Scooter_man]

A couple of years back I bought a set of Realistic Mach One speakers on eBay from a guy in Kansas City - 4 1/2 hours away.

UPS Shipping was going to be $120 - $60 each as they are quite large (15" Woofer, 4"x15" Mid Horn, 2"x3" Tweeter Horn and about 60-lbs each). I drove there and back in my old Camry for $45 - including my stop at a McDonalds on the way back. Sure, I was out 9-hours worth of my time but the car was old/high mileage anyway and saved me $75 in the process.

I feel I came out ahead to go and get these, considering the car was going to be replaced soon anyway and I didn't have to wait a week for UPS.

.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
If I have to go far out of my way to buy something, I'll even consider ordering it from the internet to have it delivered to my home. I save not only gas, but a lot of time. Often the internet price is cheaper than retail. The $5 to $8 shipping is sometimes well worth it.

Just had to do this for some flea treatment for my cat. The local veterinarian now offers the Revolution stuff which is fairly pricey, but works -- but I just don't have the energy in this heat to traipse over there after work, and I won't be able to get there on a weekend for a while. So I ordered a similar product for less, from an online shop. Even with two-day shipping it was a good price.

 

[sciphi]

I got lots of car stuff on a trip to Delaware earlier this summer. Plus I stocked up on tools at the local Harbor Freight before heading back to my folk's house 150 miles away where I work on my car.

I'll drive a fair bit to get something much cheaper. Or, if I'm in the area anyhow, I'll drive the little extra for something.

 

[The Critic]

My limit is about 40 miles. I live in Santa Cruz but we do not have a number of major stores, so I often drive to San Jose.

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
For each dollar saved I'm willing to drive up to a mile.

I bought 8 quarts Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle ATF from Walmart 3-4 weeks ago for $4.49/qt + 8.75% tax, then 2 weeks ago I found that Autozone has buy 2 get 1 free, the regular price is $4.99/qt so it works out to $3.33/qt + 8.75% tax. I bought 9 quarts from Autozone and return 8 quarts to Walmart. I saved $6.5 plus 1 extra quart, the total saving was about $10 and the driving distance was 6-7 miles.

I was in the neighborhood of Autozone and Walmart was less than 3 miles from them, the distance of 6-7 miles is the extra on top of regular trip I need to make. If I wasn't in that area in the first place, I would not drive 8 miles to Autozone and then 3 miles to Walmart then 10 miles home for a total of 20 miles to save $10.

Where in Orange County do you live?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
My limit is about 40 miles. I live in Santa Cruz but we do not have a number of major stores, so I often drive to San Jose.

Where in Orange County do you live?


Irvine, next to UCI (University of California in Irvine).

We have very few auto parts stores in Irvine and no Walmart, but the neighbor cities: Costa Mesa, Laguna Hill, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo ... have many auto part stores and Walmarts too.

 

[INMY01TA]

If I'm buying a major appliance or something exspensive (computer, video game system, etc) I'll drive to Dover Delaware. It's about a 45 min drive from me and there's no state sales tax.

 

[CivicFan]

I prefer NOT to drive to save money.

The biggest savings can be realized on electronics items. For this, I prefer to use online retailers like Newegg.

The day-to-day basics are a different story; life is just too short to drive around to save a buck here or there and then keep track of all this. Some items are cheaper in some stores but other items might be cheaper in some others. Then there is the issue of the shopping environment.

Our solution is to minimize consumption and waste.

So, most of our groceries are bought at Trader Joes, household items are bought at a local supermarket and the vegetables are bought from a local farmer.

I buy the oil at our local Autozone - it's the closest place where I can get GC. Walmart might have cheaper mobil1 0w-40 but that store is at the bottom of the list of shops to go.