A Travel Pro's Money-Saving Secrets

Christopher Elliott
National Geographic Traveler

The travel industry does not make it easy for consumers to save money. Airfares, hotel rates and car rental rates fluctuate daily... hidden fees unexpectedly inflate bills... and historically high gas prices and a weak US dollar have made it even harder to plan inexpensive vacations. Still, there are ways for savvy travelers to save money...


Skip the hotel room. With hotel rates at all-time highs, lodging alone can burn through most of your vacation budget. Rather than overpay, consider these money-saving alternatives...


Time-share rentals. Time-share owners sometimes rent out their places when they cannot use them themselves. They often ask a fraction of what a hotel would charge for comparable lodgings. To find a time-share available for rent, check time-share rental and exchange Web sites, such as RedWeek.com and TradingPlaces.com. Also, search the Craigslist.com site for the region you intend to visit under the “Housing” section.


Home exchanges. Home-exchange organizations, such as HomeExchange.com and Homelink.org, help members swap homes for a week or two. These programs work best for people who live near popular tourist destinations. Membership in a home-exchange organization typically costs around $100 per year, but the savings on the accommodations more than pay for the membership if you take even one trip each year.


Campgrounds. Many people imagine dirt floors and outhouses when they hear “campground,” but some facilities offer clean, up-to-date cabins or rooms for rent so that guests sleep indoors, often for considerably less than a hotel would charge. Some rooms and cabins even include private bathrooms and wireless Internet access. Local visitors’ bureaus can help you find campgrounds in the region.


Shop online for package deals. You may have wondered if the package deals offered by online travel sites really do save you money. Often, they do. Expedia.com, Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com purchase airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental car reservations in bulk at low rates -- and pass some of their bulk-buy savings along to customers who buy these services together.


These package deals can be considerably cheaper than anything you could find by purchasing airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars separately. Occasionally a hotel-and-airfare package actually is cheaper than airfare alone.


These sites’ package deals tend to be most attractive for travel to common vacation destinations, such as Hawaii, New York City, Orlando and Las Vegas.


Make a low bid for a rental car on Priceline.com before reserving a car. The Web site Priceline.com lets users bid for rental cars and other travel services. The site either accepts these bids or rejects them -- you have nothing to lose by bidding, because there’s no charge to do so. Priceline.com is particularly likely to provide great rental car rates.


The tricky part is deciding how low you should bid. Rental car prices vary greatly from city to city and even day to day, making it hard to determine a fair price.


I start by finding the best rental rate I can through major rental car company Web sites and 800 numbers. (Rental car companies often offer better deals over the phone than they do online.)


Next, I search for rental car deals on Hotwire.com, a Web site that often has very attractive rates. I take the best price I have found and bid 30% less on Priceline.com. Often, my bid is accepted. If not, I accept the best deal I have found
elsewhere.


Also: Consider reserving an economy car, even if you would prefer something larger. Rental agencies often run out of economy cars and provide free upgrades to customers. This is not worth trying if you absolutely must have a larger car.


Upgrade your airline legroom for free. You might not have to ante up big bucks (or frequent-flier miles) for an upgrade to first-class legroom. Simply reserve a coach seat in the emergency exit row. This row typically has several more inches of legroom than other coach rows -- sometimes even as much as first class -- to make it easier for passengers to exit in the event of an emergency. A few airlines charge extra for exit-row seats, but most don’t.


When I am unable to reserve a seat in the emergency exit row, I ask the gate agent to place me on the waiting list for this row as soon as I check in for my flight. You must be able-bodied to sit in the emergency exit row and physically able to open the emergency door.


Bulkhead seats -- the seats at the front of a seating section -- typically also have extra legroom. However, bulkhead seats often are reserved for people with disabilities, families with young children and frequent-fliers.


Helpful: Buy airline tickets as early as possible this year. Many of the major American airlines are considering mergers. Airline mergers tend to reduce competition and increase prices, at least for a while. It is better to lock in today’s fares.


Eat lunch out but dinner in. Many restaurants charge about twice as much for dinner as they do for lunch -- even though the food is the same and the portions comparable.


Trim vacation costs by eating lunch in the fancy restaurants you want to visit but dinner in less expensive restaurants or even back in your room if you have a kitchen or can bring in takeout.


Look out for hidden fees. Virtually every company in the travel industry these days seems to be tacking on “hidden” fees. Cruise lines impose “fuel surcharges”... car rental agencies have become stricter about fuel “top off” fees... hotels add “concierge charges” or “resort fees.”


Scan the fine print of rental contracts and other travel documents for fee disclosures before signing. If you feel that a fee is not justified, say so -- you may be able to get it waived.


If fees are not stated in your documents, explain that you were not told about these fees and request that they be waived. If this request is denied, dispute the fee charge through your credit card company after your trip.


Consider using a travel agent for complex itineraries or a cruise. In this era of book-your-own-ticket Web sites, most consumers consider travel agents unnecessary. But an experienced travel agent can save you money on complicated international trips with numerous stops.


When consumers book complex trips on their own, they often suffer missed connections or other unforeseen complications -- these problems can be very expensive to resolve. Working with an experienced travel agent makes problems less likely and gives you an emergency on-call problem solver if something does go wrong.

Also, travel agents who are associated with large consortiums often have access to special rates for cruises and hotels that you couldn’t find on your own.

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Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Christopher Elliott, host of the television series What You Get for the Money: Vacations on the Fine Living Network. Based in Winter Springs, Florida, he writes a travel column for MSNBC.com and serves as ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler. www.elliott.org.

Proven Ways to Make Your Car Last 300,000 Miles

Proven Ways to Make Your Car Last 300,000 Miles

David Solomon

MotorWatch

Some drivers appear to have great luck keeping their vehicles trouble free for many years -- even decades. Others don’t even make it past 60,000 miles without major problems. The longevity of your vehicle can depend on what type you own, but driving and maintenance habits also are crucial. A few proven techniques -- some easy, some more complex but worth the effort -- can help keep your vehicle running beyond the 300,000-mile mark.

DRIVING TECHNIQUES

Coast as much as possible. Plan your approach to red lights, stop signs and turns long before you reach them. Don’t accelerate unnecessarily and then step on the brake at the last moment -- that wears down brakes quickly.

Accelerate slowly. Avoid jackrabbit starts. Flooring the gas pedal when the engine is cold is a major reason for blown head gaskets, which are expensive to fix. Drive as though you have an egg between your foot and the gas pedal. Reserve rapid acceleration for emergency situations.

Allow the engine to get hot. To help flush contaminants, such as fuel and moisture, from the motor oil, drive at highway speeds for 30 minutes at least once a month.

Delay heating or cooling. To prevent adding an extra load on the engine, allow it to run for a minute so that it is lubricated before you turn on the windshield defroster or air conditioner.

Run the air conditioner or windshield defroster at least once a month (even in cooler weather) for about a minute to circulate oil through the heating and cooling system. Otherwise, oil may settle in the compressor, causing the system to stop operating.

Use the parking brake. If you don’t use it at least once a week while parked -- even if you’re not parked on an incline -- the parking brake can freeze up and fail to release.

Wind down turbocharged engines. The engine should be allowed to idle a few minutes before you shut it down. This allows the turbo to stop spinning while it is still being lubricated with motor oil. (Don’t close the garage door until the engine is off.)

Avoid two-footed driving. Using the left foot to brake can lead to unconscious riding of the brakes, which wears them out and confuses the engine control computer, possibly leading to stalling, surging and high emissions.

With manual transmissions, use the brakes and not the gears to slow down -- brakes are cheaper to replace than the transmission. For most manual transmission vehicles, aim to operate the engine between 2,000 and 3,000 revolutions per minute (RPM) to avoid overworking or over-revving the engine. Don’t keep the clutch pedal pressed any more than necessary. Keep your hand off the gear shift when driving to avoid excess strain on the transmission. Don’t necessarily park in gear -- if another car bumps into yours while yours is in gear, the transmission could be damaged. Exception: Park in gear is for extra traction on inclines.

With automatic transmissions, shift into park when idling for extended periods to allow the transmission to cool down. Don’t idle for long periods in neutral, because some bearings are not lubricated in neutral.

FUEL CHOICES

Try to use a gas additive with every fill-up because modern gasoline doesn’t contain enough detergents to keep the fuel system clean. Avoid additives that contain methanol, methyl, alcohol, xylene, toluene or acetone -- these can damage the fuel system hoses and pump.

Best: Redline SI-1 or Chevron Techron (usually $7 to $9 per bottle).

Use the octane called for in the vehicle’s owner’s manual. Putting premium fuel in an engine designed for regular, or vice versa, won’t deliver better mileage, and it can cause a buildup of carbon in the combustion chambers, which hurts driving performance.

Don’t let the fuel level drop below one-quarter tank. A low tank promotes condensation, which can damage the fuel pump.

Don’t fill the tank to the top of the filler neck. Topping off after the gas hose clicks can damage the evaporative emission canister, which will cause the “check engine” light to come on. Repairs could cost more than $500.

ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

Determine the normal life expectancy for major parts so that you can replace them before they fail.

Example: Most people never think to replace their radiator, but a radiator should be changed every 10 years or 150,000 miles -- or sooner, depending on your driving conditions. A list of the normal life expectancies for most parts is posted at www.motorwatch.com (click on “Automotive Bible,” “Service Charts,” then “Depart Parts Chart”).

Rotate tires every 7,500 miles to extend tire life and improve gas mileage. (Some vehicles have tires that cannot be swapped from front to back or side to side.) It’s also a good opportunity for your technician to check the vehicle for potential problems, such as leaks or parts that are about to fail.

Have the battery tested annually at a shop that uses a “conductance” tester, which can predict battery life. When the battery wears out, replace it with an Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery, which lasts at least twice as long as an ordinary battery, offers more cranking power, recharges faster and increases starter and alternator life. AGM batteries are sealed and don’t vent explosive gases or cause corrosion of the cables or nearby electrical components, as conventional batteries do. Examples of AGM batteries: Optima, Odyssey (prices start at $130).

If the battery can be opened up, you can top off the electrolyte (fluid). Use distilled water only for this.

Clean the throttle body and fuel injectors every 30,000 miles -- unless a gas additive is used regularly.

Change spark plugs every 60,000 miles. Replace plug wires, if applicable, every 100,000 to 120,000 miles.

OTHER HELPFUL STEPS

Keep only a few keys on the ignition key ring. The extra weight from a fistful of keys will wear out the ignition switch prematurely in some vehicles.

Use a car cover if you don’t garage your vehicle. It reduces environmental damage to the paint and sun damage to the interior. Best: Covers ranging from $80 to $400 available at www.autochic.com (800-351-0605).

Use a windshield sunshade or dashboard cover to preserve the dash vinyl when parked in the sun.

WHEN TO CHANGE THE OIL, BRAKE FLUID...

The owner’s manual often does not include recommendations for the change intervals for important fluids and filters, or the recommended intervals may be too far apart. Use the guidelines below unless the manufacturer recommends shorter intervals...

Oil. The old rule of thumb for oil changes is every three months or 3,000 miles, but if you drive in a mild climate or use synthetic oil, this may be too frequent. If you drive in more severe conditions, it might not be frequent enough. Better: Follow the oil change guidelines posted at my Web site, www.motorwatch.com (click on “Automotive Bible,” then “Service Charts”). Also: Have your oil analyzed every few years with a test kit (available from Oil Analyzers Inc., 800-956-5695, www.oaitesting.com). This will tell you whether you change the oil often enough for your kind of driving, and it will warn you of potential problems.

Example: Finding trace amounts of coolant or sand (silica) in the oil allows you to take corrective action before the engine is damaged.

Brake fluid. Every two years or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first, for vehicles with an antilock braking system (ABS). Every three years or 36,000 miles for those without ABS. Use DOT 5.1 synthetic brake fluid, which has good corrosion inhibitors.

Power steering fluid. Every two years or 24,000 miles.

Long-life radiator coolant. Every three years or 36,000 miles. Buy premixed coolant, or mix it yourself with distilled water, not tap water, which can cause mineral deposits to plug up the radiator.

Transmission fluid for automatic transmissions. Every three years or 36,000 miles in front-wheel-drive vehicles... every five years or 50,000 miles in rear-wheel-drive vehicles. Synthetic transmission fluid extends the interval by one year or 10,000 miles.

Transmission fluid for manual transmissions. Every 60,000 miles, or 100,000 miles when using synthetic transmission fluid.

Fuel filter. At least every 50,000 miles. A partially blocked fuel filter can cause premature failure of the fuel pump. Best: Use the same brand of filter that the factory supplied.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed David Solomon, a certified master auto mechanic and chairman of MotorWatch, an automotive safety watchdog organization, and editor of MotorWatch, Box 123, Butler, Maryland 21023. www.motorwatch.com.