Slash your petrol costs

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:11:10 +0000

Drivers are set for more pain at the pump so finding out how you can control your fuel consumption and cut the cost of running your car is desired.

Use the Internet for cheap petrol prices

Use a service like Petrolprices.com to find the best priced fuel in your local area. Petrolprices.com compares 1,000’s of petrol stations every day and updates the prices daily.

Use a Sat Nav

sat nav save money

Plan your route before leaving with a mapping service like Multimap or Google Maps and then you must use a satellite navigation during your journey. Don’t waste petrol by going the long way, wrong way or getting caught in traffic.

Aim to Drive efficiently

You can slash petrol consumption by up to 25% by driving more efficiently. Drive at an appropriate speed and anticipate traffic flow – not only does this increase safety, it should lead to a reduction in braking and accelerating, saving you money on fuel costs and reducing CO2 emissions.

Avoid Revving your engine

lewis hamilton

Modern car engines are designed to be efficient from the moment they’re switched on, so revving up like Lewis Hamilton wastes fuel and increases engine wear.

The best way to warm up your vehicle is to drive it – if you’re likely to be idle for more than two minutes, simply switch off the engine.

When accelerating, change gear as early as possible: a vehicle traveling at 35mph in third gear uses 25% more fuel than at the same speed in fifth gear.

The best time to change up a gear is 2500rpm for a petrol car and 2000rpm for a diesel. The more revs you use the harder you are working your engine.

Beware of AC

Fuel efficiency is reduced by up to 10% for air conditioning and by 4% for cars with climate control, so only use it when it’s really necessary – and for best performance, only when you are driving at more than 40mph.

About half of the energy used to drive a car is used to fight aerodynamic drag – so you should also avoid opening your window on a motorway & remove any unnecessary items like roof racks.

Reduce your car use

Most of all car journeys are for less than a few miles but these are the most fuel-inefficient journeys – a cold engine uses almost twice as much fuel. Walk, cycle or catch public transport instead. Also combining shorter trips can also help you save time and fuel.

Try a local car club

If you live in a city then it could pay to join a car club instead of owning your own set of wheels. Membership gets you pay-as-you-go access to cars all over the UK.

The Best Car Clubs in the UK

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