For those who need glasses or contact lenses, you don’t need me to tell you it’s an expensive business.
The average spectacle-wearer in Britain will buy 26 pairs of glasses in their lifetime, at a typical cost of £120 a pair, according to Optometry Today, which equates to a total spend of £3,120.
Little wonder then that, according to the Association of Optometrists, nearly a third of people in the UK are wearing cast-off glasses from friends and family to cut costs!
But there are ways to keep the costs down on a new pair. You just have to be savvy about getting the best deals.
My first tip is to take your prescription and shop around before you go into big chains such as Specsavers and Vision Express.
The average spectacle-wearer in Britain will buy 26 pairs of glasses in their lifetime, at a typical cost of £120 a pair, according to Optometry Today, which equates to a total spend of £3,120
Check online prices first, as they often advertise discounts. A friend of mine had to ask for the over-60s discount in Specsavers, for example, after noticing on the website that she was entitled to 20 per cent off.
Vision Express also runs regular short-use discount codes online (in fact, there’s a deal of 20 per cent off glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses until February 28 at discountcode.dailymail.co.uk/visionexpress).
I spoke to the in-store team in one shop and they said that managers also have discretion to offer discounts too — but you have to ask.
My next tip is to be wary of any add-ons. Specsavers has some competitive basic frames priced from £15 upwards, but staff will try to upsell you add-ons such as extra-thin and light lenses from £50 per pair, or polarising lenses for £59 per pair.
Many independent opticians and smaller chains actually have better deals than the big chains. Brillen (Brillen.co.uk) in the Midlands and North of England has offers for first-time users such as a £45 Welcome Bonus off varifocals (meaning you pay £49 a pair instead of the usual £94).
You also get a £20 Welcome Bonus off your first purchase of single-vision glasses, meaning frames can start from £9 instead of £29.
Scrivens (scrivens.com), meanwhile, is offering frames from £29, with any second pair half-price.
But the cheapest deals are found online if you don’t mind not being able to try on styles. At DirectSight (DirectSight.co.uk), glasses cost from £9, plus you get an extra 10 per cent off when you subscribe to emails.
There is the usual add-on system. If you want more than just basic lenses, you could end up having to add another £45 or so to make them bifocals with anti-scratch protection.
Another online retailer with big discounts is Goggles4U (goggles4u.co.uk). Their one-off code Discount29 gives you up to 50 per cent off your frames and lenses, plus a further 29 per cent off the entire order.
A friend of mine uses this site and was able to buy a pair of specs, with varifocals and scratch-resistant lenses, for less than £32 using discount codes.
Glasses Direct (glassesdirect.co.uk) is all about the discount codes and offers, too. You can get 50 per cent off frames over £49, plus a free second pair with code 50PLUS.
Asda’s opticians (opticians.asda.com) are not cheap but at least the price advertised is what you pay, as it includes add-ons as standard.
There are two ranges: Basic men’s/women’s glasses — all £45 (or free with an NHS prescription), or the £80 range (two pairs for £120).
Prices at Boots Opticians start from a comparatively high £40 and its sales model is very much geared to the ‘second pair half-price’ offer.
Prices advertised are for single-vision lenses with scratch resistance as standard. Add £50 for varifocals.
When it comes to contact lenses, you can make considerable savings by switching from daily to monthly ones.
At Specsavers, for example, prices start from £7.50 for 30 daily lenses (one month’s worth) compared with £10.50 for three-monthly ones. Over a year, that works out to be a saving of more than £48.
Or you could switch to an online subscription service such as Daysoft (daysoft.com), whose lenses start from just 20p per eye. Over a year, you’d save £26 on Specsavers’ cheapest dailies.
Vision Direct (visiondirect.co.uk/contact-lenses) has some deals on contact lenses at the moment, with daily contact lenses starting at £9.99 per month.
They have an exclusive code for Mail readers, MAIL12, which gives an extra 12 per cent off first orders.
Once you’ve found the best deal, check cashback sites for an extra discount (topcashback.co.uk is a good place for those) and refer-a-friend codes (Referralcodes.com).
This month, Love Voucher Codes has one for 10 pc off lenses at contactlenses.co.uk (lovediscountvouchers.co.uk/contactlensescouk).
All prices quoted here are correct at time of going to press but be aware they may change.
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