How Do I Save Money on Gas?

Part 1

This is a hot topic these days with gas prices nudging ever upwards and incomes tending to rise very slowly, if at all. Oil companies continue to make record profits but it isn’t just them that are responsible for the increased prices at the pump.  Our governments, God bless them, have determined that this is often the easiest and least controversial way to siphon more money out of our wallets and into their coffers.  Increasingly it’s under the guise of promoting public transit through a punitive transit tax with the supposed intent being to force more of us out of our cars and onto public transit irrespective of geography.

I’ve collected a number of tips that can come in handy when you are looking for ways to reduce your over all gas consumption.  There aren’t many of us who aren’t looking for the answer to the question ‘How do I save money on gas?’ I know that I certainly was and am and recently I undertook the most radical money saving strategy of all and moved significantly closer to my place of work.  My fuel bill went from about $25/day down to an average of about $5/day.  Now most of these tips won’t save you that kind of money but put together they will save you a surprising amount.

Delay, Defer and Delete – Plan your trips. And the first question you should ask yourself is this.  Do I really have to go? Do I really have to go right now?  It’s possible that the trip you planned can be combined with something else.  Hold off on buying eggs until you have to drop your daughter off for her piano lesson.  It can be amazing how many trips you can eliminate with a little planning.

Split the Cost  -  Carpooling can work well in some instances, esp. when you have three or more individuals  who can participate.  Ride share and car share programs such as zipcar.com in the U.S. and carsharing.ca for our Canadian friends are good resources to check out.

Smooth as Silk – Smooth driving pays, really, really well.  If you’re a closet drag racer that has to be the first one off the line then you can expect to pay for it. Starting slowly and allowing your speed to increase along with your RPMs will save you money every time. Punching the accelerator is like punching your wallet.  Ditto for the hard braking that inevitably follows now that you have sped up to get to the front of the pack.  Just not worth it under any circumstances.

Anticipation  -  Watch what’s going on in front of you. Way out in front of you. That way you can time lights and avoid heavy braking or even stopping.  Getting your car rolling from a stop uses a tremendous amount of fuel in comparison to keeping it rolling. Use traffic patterns to your advantage and pay attention to light patterns so you aren’t constantly hitting red lights. If you know that you always hit the same red light try varying your speed by going a bit slower. That leads us right to the next tip.

Slow Down – This applies to all drivers with perhaps the exception of Granny Goodwitch and the sanctimonious ones that I call the left lane lockers. I swear they used to be the hall monitors in school. They feel that they have been appointed by a higher power to ensure we don’t speed by driving at exactly the speed limit in the fast lane for no reason at all except to show they can. Ok my rant is over. Seriously though, there is a lot of money to be saved by leaving the house just ten minutes earlier. Then you won’t be under stress and driving aggressively or hard between lights. Almost all cars fuel efficiency drops off sharply around 50 mph (80kph for the canucks).  The trick is to get into the highest possible gear at the lowest rpm that the car runs comfortably at. Diesels shine at this because they operate far better than gasoline engines at low rpm.

Manual Transmission – If you’re going to get a car, consider getting a manual transmission but only if you are a very astute driver who understands cars and the physics of them quite well. It used to be a huge fuel advantage to drive a manual but most of the automatic transmissions in newer cars are very fuel efficient and have almost offset the advantage that manuals used to enjoy.  No matter what transmission you have you should be speeding up for oncoming hills whenever possible (don’t wait to get into the hill before accelerating) and easing off on the pedal as you come down the other side to avoid brake wear and losing inertia.

Rip off the Rack – if you have a rack on your vehicle and it isn’t being used, take it off.  It just adds to the drag on your car and causes you to burn more fuel.  If it’s a ski rack and the calendar says June, put it away until next season. Same thing with luggage and bicycle racks. Spoilers and air dams look good but they don’t have a purpose away from the race track and they add to the fuel consumption of your car.

Get a Gauge – Check the tire pressure on your car every few weeks.  Get yourself a good manual tire pressure gauge (every auto parts store has one) and use it when your car tires are cold before you have driven it for the day. Always inflate your tires to the upper end of the manufacturers recommended range.  Don’t overinflate as that can cause excessive tire wear and poorer traction and handling. Tire that are under inflated or those with uneven air pressure will rob you of fuel economy.

Read On – Make sure you read the second part of this article on How to Save Money on Gas.  There’s a lot of information here and almost all of it applies to most drivers.  Fuel prices are not going to come down so we have to do all we can to minimize the impact on our wallets. Happy Motoring!