Toy cars drive over a map of Canada in this photo illustration.Cheryl Clock/The Canadian Press
With summer vacation season underway, many Canadians are planning road trips.
This week, Preet Banerjee shared how he saves money on long drives by keeping his car well tuned. We used the article as a talking point, and asked readers to submit their own ideas for saving money on road trips. Here are some of the best tips we received.
On our Facebook page, Will Kalisz suggested not overloading the car with heavy equipment, and setting the cruise control function to save gas, adding, "80 km/h is much more efficient when the throttle is being controlled by the engine as opposed to your foot."
On Twitter, Candice Worsfold suggested avoiding expensive restaurants: "Pack your snacks and meals -- visit the grocery store instead of fast food venues."
"We like to hit up grocery stores in the morning and pick up a few things," added Cynthia Lang on Facebook. "Park on the side of the road and open up the tailgate and eat a picnic."
Commenter SM234 on globeandmail.com advised that if you're crossing the border, it might be cheaper to rent a car in the United States. "Most rental agencies in Canada limit the number of miles and the areas you can drive to, plus they are a lot more expensive."
SM234 also suggested renting a vacation house instead of a hotel. "I hate hotel rooms and renting a vacation house is much cheaper and gives us a lot more space. You have the flexibility to cook your own meals and kids love the private pool, unlimited WiFi, etc."
"We use the Priceline app on our smartphone to find cheap hotels," said commenter barryboyle1. "The app allows you to sort by price to find the most inexpensive hotels in a town."
Go even cheaper, said commenter johny maple: "How about camping instead of hotel/motelling it: savings $100-150 a night."
Got your own money-saving tip? Add it to the comments.
Dianne Nice