The cost of a long weekend road trip
Getting the most out of your long weekend road trip budget is simple with a little upfront planning.
While it’s easy to focus on petrol and snacks, keeping your total trip cost low comes down to managing a few easy details, including highway toll fees, booking accommodation in advance, and basic car maintenance before you leave.
Whether it’s a school holiday or a much-needed long weekend getaway, smart preparation can keep your travels fun, seamless and pocket-friendly. You can easily keep your journey smooth and even stretch your holiday budget by doing quick pre-trip vehicle checks, securing stays early, packing snacks from home and earning UCount Rewards Points on fuel at participating service stations.
Here’s how you can tick these boxes off your list and get your road trip off to a great start.
1. Sort the car before you pack your bags
The secret to a stress-free road trip starts under the bonnet well before you begin loading up the boot. Checking your vehicle’s maintenance early gives you time to sort out any quick fixes at home, ensuring a smooth, worry-free drive on the open road.
Pre-trip car inspection checklist
- Fluids: Check and top up engine oil, radiator coolant, brake fluid and power steering fluid. Also check your windscreen washer fluid to clear insect splatter from highway driving.
- Lights and wipers: Test your headlights, taillights, indicators, brake lights and hazards. Check wiper blades for streaking, cracks or chatter and replace them immediately if damaged so you’re ready for sudden downpours.
- Safety kit and tools: Ensure that you have a working jack, wheel spanner and reflective emergency triangle. Also include a first aid kit that includes bandages, plasters, sterile gauze pads, antiseptic wipes, medical tape, scissors, a space blanket, burn gel and disposable gloves.
- Licences and documents: Confirm that your driver’s licence and vehicle licence disc are both valid and up to date.
If crossing international borders, notify your vehicle insurer and medical aid beforehand to confirm active cover. You can also easily access your vehicle cross-border letter on the Banking App.
Save your insurance details and roadside assistance numbers on your phone for quick offline access. - Tyres: Inspect all your tyres (including the spare wheel) for uneven wear, cracks, sidewall bulges or embedded stones. Make sure you have enough tread depth so that you have proper grip and can drive safely in the rain. Also check your tyre pressure. If you aren’t sure what to look for, visit a local specialist to inspect, balance, fit or align your wheels.
2. Know what the trip costs before you hit the road
When calculating how much your road trip will cost, the secret to staying on budget is looking beyond just the petrol tank. Fuel, meals, toll gates and impulse snack stops add up faster than expected. Calculate your total estimated costs upfront, then add a 10% to 15% safety buffer for those ‘just in case’ moments.
To get a realistic view of your trip expenses, use this simple formula before you head out:
Tips to keep your road trip costs down
- Fuel efficiency: Driving habits directly impact your tank’s range. Maintain a steady speed (use cruise control on flat highways), accelerate smoothly and avoid hard braking.
- Food and drinks: Service station food is convenient, but can be more expensive. Pack your food and drinks for the road; it’s cheaper, and you won’t have to stop as often.
- Toll fees: Map your route in advance so you know where you’ll have to pay tolls and how much they are.
- Accommodation: If your route requires an overnight rest stop, book in advance. Long-weekend rooms sell out quickly, and last-minute walk-in rates can cost more.
3. Keep the kids busy without a screen
Keeping young passengers happily engaged isn’t just great for family bonding; it also means the driver can focus on the road. A great option is letting each child pack their own small activity bag with a colouring book, a simple puzzle and stickers.
4. Easy, screen-free road trip games
- Spot the vehicle: Pick a specific car colour or brand. The first person to spot 10 gets to choose the next playlist or pick the first snack at the next rest stop.
- Road trip bingo: Before you leave, draw quick bingo cards with common roadside sights, e.g. specific cars/trucks, a landmark and animals. The first player to complete a full row wins.
- I spy: One player picks an object in sight ("I spy with my little eye, something beginning with..."). It’s a timeless, zero-prep classic that works for all ages.
- Family audiobooks and audio trivia: Download family-friendly audiobooks, interactive trivia podcasts or sing-along playlists ahead of time. This can be useful for long, quiet stretches of highway where network coverage might be unreliable. Don’t have kids? Explore e-books and audiobooks for every stage of your financial journey, from building savings and paying down debt to investing for the future.
5. Make your fuel spend work harder for you
Fuel is typically the largest single expense of any road trip, but it’s also one of the easiest places to earn money back. With UCount Rewards, you can turn every refuel into Rewards Points that can help offset your total holiday spend.
Use your eligible Standard Bank card to earn UCount Rewards Points on qualifying fuel purchases.
See where you can earn and spend your UCount Rewards Points.
Ready to hit the road?
Grab your free downloadable weekend road trip checklist and tick off every safety, packing and budget detail with ease.
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Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax or investment advice. Readers are strongly encouraged to seek financial or legal advice before making any decisions based on the content.
Standard Bank, its subsidiaries or holding company, any subsidiary of the holding company and all of its subsidiaries, make no warranties or representations (implied or expressed) as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of the content of this article. The use of the article and any reliance on the content is at the reader’s risk.
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