Gas Saving Tips

Gas prices have been spiraling out of control for months, and there is no end in sight. This morning I paid $2.67 a gallon for regular unleaded gas. And with prices expected to continue to rise to over $3 per gallon, it is time to start considering how to get more bang for your buck at the gas pump.

Increased gas prices do not just hit you when you fill up your tank though. Just think about it for a minute and you will realize how many other ways rising oil and gas prices will cost you.

Do you travel? Airlines use tons of fuel and price increases hit them especially hard. They'll just pass the increased cost to the consumer in the form of higher prices for tickets.

Shipping companies such as Fedex and UPS may have to raise rates to cover the cost of keeping their fleets of jets and trucks running. Even the post office may have to raise the rate of postage again.

Prices of all sorts of good, from clothes to food to appliances, may go up too as the cost of transporting them from manufacturer to retailer rises.

Smaller companies (especially trucking companies that already have high fuel costs) may find themselves unable to keep up with rising expenses and may be forced to lay off employees or go out of business.

And having to spend more money on gas will force consumers to spend less on other purchases. That effects other businesses and industries that will see sales and revenues decrease.

You may even see your property taxes increase as municipalities are forced to find ways to pay the higher costs of fuel for every school bus, police car, fire engine, garbage truck, and other vehicles owned and used by the town.

As you can see, the rising cost of oil and gasoline has a much wider-ranging effect than can be seen at first glance.

Gas Saving Advice

While there is little you can do about the market price of a barrel of oil, there are ways to keep down your own personal costs at the gas pump. Here are some suggestions for saving gas:

• Don't pay extra for premium gas if you don't need it. Consult your owners manual and stick to the recommended octane. Most cars run just fine on regular unleaded gas and you will get no extra performance by using premium gas.
• Shop around. Keep a watchful eye and you'll be surprised at how much prices can vary from one gas station to the next. I've seen differences of eight to ten cents per gallon between gas stations directly across the street from one another. Seems like a small difference but it adds up over time. GasBuddy is an online service that lets you search for the lowest priced gas by zip code.
• Schedule your errands to minimize drive time, or if possible walk.
• Travel light. Keeping your car and backseat loaded down wastes fuel as it requires more energy to move a heavier car. Take only the essentials (a spare tire, first-aid kit, jumper cables, etc.) with you.
• Slow down. The faster you drive the fewer the miles you will get per gallon.
• Drive steady. Avoid quick stops and accelerations that waste fuel. Anticipate braking ahead of time and ease onto the gas pedal rather than flooring it.
• Maintenance is key. Keeping your engine tuned and tires inflated can make a difference in your fuel consumption. Under-inflated tires create drag which causes the engine to use more energy to propel the car. Plus, it is unsafe to drive on tires that have too little or too air in them.
• If you are in the market for a new car, consider models that are more fuel efficient. You can research types of cars and find out exactly how much each gets per gallon at sites like Edmunds. 
• Use the air conditioner judiciously. There are two schools of thought on this one. The first says you will burn less fuel with the windows down and the AC off. The second says that driving with the windows open creates drag, which wastes more fuel than would be used if the AC was on and the windows up.
  
  So which one is true? Well...both of them really. The car will consume more fuel with the air conditioner on and the windows down, up to about 45-50 miles per hour. As you drive faster, the drag caused by the open windows will actually cause higher fuel consumption.
  
  So the rule of thumb is this: keep the AC off and the windows down when you are cruising around town and on city streets. Once you reach the highway or about 50 mph, roll up the windows and turn the on the AC.

Using these tips will help you increase fuel efficiency. While you may not notice a huge difference with each fill up, the savings will compound as you start saving gas with each fresh tank.