A lot of us think about big money items as investments. When you buy a house, for example, a large part of the process will hinge on how the property will be an investment for your money. Of course there are plenty of practical considerations as well. You will want a place that will work for you and your family for a long time, but you also would hope that it will bring you a significant return. Buying a place is somewhat of a risk, especially in today’s market, and so you should expect a potential reward.

But when many of us buy a car we neglect to do the same thing. A car is undeniably a big money item, but we mainly think of it as some sort of product to be used and then dispensed with. But in the current market, and with everyone tightening their purse strings, we should all be looking for ways to protect our investments. And we should also be looking for unusual ways to make money from our static assets.

So how exactly can you do this? First off, let’s cover the basics. You should be looking at the average depreciation of your vehicle’s value. This is to do with protecting as much of the money that you invested in the car as possible. It is unavoidable that your use of the car and any of the wear and tear it endures will affect its value.

But it is important to try to minimise this as much as possible. If you buy a brand new vehicle the level of depreciation you expect will be completely different to buying a car that has been owned many times previously. And it is important to remember that there is a sweet spot between these two ends of the spectrum. A brand new car may lose a lot of its value if you try to sell it on, but an old banger may lose all of its value. If you buy a car near the end of its life it’s going to be cheap, but you aren’t going to get any of that money back when you take it to the scrapheap. If you invest in a car that is in the middle expense bracket, then you will get a significant portion of your investment back. It’s worth having a browse of inchcape.co.uk in order to ascertain what will best suit your plans.

If this is about protecting the money you put in, then how should we go about increasing the money you get out of your car? Obviously you should be looking to save money in general by buying a car with good mileage and low repair and maintenance requirements. But you should also think about investing in your car in order to raise its value.

There are many ways to go about this. First off, you should think about upgrading your car. This means making several integral changes to the vehicle that will extend its life far down the road. As a current owner you will reap the rewards of a better performing car with fewer issues, and when you come to sell it you will hopefully receive a better price. In the metaphor of house ownership, this is exactly the same as renovating, redecorating or expanding the house. You will have the pleasure of enjoying a more luxurious accommodation. Meanwhile the investment will pay itself off many times over when new buyers hope to snatch up your improved property.

In this category you might think about investing in any number of things. You might want to touch up the appearance of your car. You might want to have the engine renovated. You might just want to have the whole thing thoroughly maintained and repaired. Whatever you choose, make sure that you’re going to get your money back later.

You can also make cash from your vehicle in any number of other ways. In the same way that you would rent an empty house, you should consider renting your unused car. This may sound like a lot more trouble than it’s worth, but there are now a number of companies that will help you to do this. Thanks to the explosion of startup businesses, there are loads of flexible ways to make the most out of what would otherwise be an unused potential.

EasyCar Club is one of these services that will allow you to make cash from your vehicle. They will handle the entire process from insurance to booking, so you don’t have to get down to the nitty gritty. And of course, using a service like this, you can make sure that the car is only rented out at times that you would not otherwise be using it. A service like this can be of particular interest to those that own cars in the city, even though they do not use it often. It can be a great hassle-free way of recouping the overhead expenses of running a vehicle.

Hopefully you’ve spotted some good ideas in this article. The key point to get across, though, is that it is important to think of your car as an investment, not a consumable product. Of course, unlike a house your car will eventually lose its whole worth when it becomes more expensive to fix than to buy a new one. But up until that point the average car is a fantastic and underappreciated way to generate and protect revenue. In the current financial climate everyone should have their eyes out for opportunities like this. Investing in your car comes with the bonus of it being a very stable and predictable investment, which is more than can be said for a lot of markets out there.

In any case, the key is to think through your car. Remember that you will have it for many years, and think about all of the ways that you are underusing its potential. By putting just a few of these tips to work, you’ll be sure to have a bit of extra cash in your pocket.

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