Save money on the road

It is always a pinch on the pocket in the New Year after a heavy Christmas but we have put together some tips to make motoring a bit easier on your pocket:

1. Check your tyre pressure.

Correct tyre inflation means less fuel consumption and safer driving. Although, if your tyres are under inflated tyres mean more tread touching the surface of the road increasing resistance. This therefore means that you will need to use more power, resulting in a higher spend on fuel.

2. Remove excess weight.

The heavier your car, the more fuel you are likely to use. A lot of drivers collect things in their boot like unnecessary equipment or golf clubs for example. By removing this extra weight, you are likely to save money on fuel.

3. Keep your car serviced.

Over time parts in your car will become worn out and as a result, be less efficient. Having you car regularly serviced will help to keep everything under the bonnet as efficient as it can be.

4. Plan your journeys.

If you combine shorts trips like traveling to the supermarket with dropping off the recycling so you are traveling less miles overall. Reduce the amount of cold starts too (which use more fuel). Thinking about driving at certain times of the day will mean avoiding any congestion and therefore using less fuel.

5. Take off the roof rack.

If you haven’t used it for a while or don’t plan on using it for a while in the future, take it off. The extra weight will mean the car uses more fuel, resulting in higher fuel costs.

6. Slow down.

Everyone is always in a rush, but by driving at 50mph instead of 70mph can reduce your fuel costs by around 25%.

7. Keep an eye on what’s in front of you.

If you keep an eye on what is further ahead than the car in front of you, you will be able to see the speed of the traffic and can adjust your speed accordingly instead of needing to brake harder, which uses more fuel.

8. Try not to race away at the lights.

By accelerating harder to burst away at the lights, again you will use more fuel. It won’t necessarily mean you will get there any quicker either.

9. Drive in the correct gear.

If you change through the gears earlier you will have much greater fuel efficiency. By driving at a lower rpm the amount of fuel you use will be greatly reduced compared to driving at a higher rpm at the same speed.

10. Turn off unnecessary gadgets.

Using in-car gadgets like air conditioning, heated seats and heated windscreens will all increase fuel consumption so only have them on when you really need to. If it’s a hot day consider rolling the windows down at lower speeds and using air conditioning at higher speeds where open windows will create more drag.

If your existing car is using too much fuel though, it might be worth a change. By selling or using a scrap my car service, you can get rid of your old car and invest in a newer model which will be much more efficient and will save you money on fuel on a monthly basis.

Taken from: Guest Post (article, By Boris Dzhingarov), Google (images).