Saving money at the pump.
High fuel prices can drain your wallet, making it difficult for you to make ends meet. You cannot do anything about pump prices, but you can put some distance between your visits to the service station, by employing several fuel saving tips immediately.
1. Use Cruise Control
Most cars come with cruise control, a device that keeps your vehicle at a constant speed. Cruise control is ideal for the open highway when long traveling distances mean consuming much fuel.
Set your cruise control at highway speed and you may be able to find fuel savings averaging 7 percent according to Edmunds.com.
2. Keep Your Engine Tuned
Tune ups are a thing of the past, but your car’s engine still needs to run optimally. Many cars can go as far as 100,000 miles before replacing spark plugs becomes necessary. Even so, there are other parts that may need replacing sooner such as the PCV valve, fuel filters, ignition components and air filters.
By following the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance intervals as outlined in your owner’s manual you can save about 4 percent on fuel, perhaps much more if your oxygen sensor is faulty.
3. Keep Tires Inflated at the Proper Level
Under inflation can lead to tire failure putting yourself at risk of an accident. Tires that are regularly under inflated can see tread life reduced by up to 25 percent notes TireRack.com.
Improperly inflated tires can have a negative affect on your fuel economy too, coming in as much as 3 percent lower when tire pressure is 10 psi below the car manufacturer’s recommended level.
4. Avoid Prolonged Idling
Among the newest features found in many cars built today is stop-start technology. These technologies cut engine spark and fuel when idle, such as at a stop light, automatically reactivating same when you take your foot off of the brake.
Car manufacturers have been rolling out start-stop technology as an important way to enhance fuel savings. Even if your car is not equipped with the technology, you can save fuel when your idle times last for more than one minute. Double-digit fuel savings are possible when you shut down your idled vehicle.
5. Lighten Your Load
Do you use your trunk to store sporting gear? Do you drive around in your pickup truck with excess weight in the truck bed? If so, that added weight can make your engine work harder and run less efficiently.
For every 100 extra pounds that you have in your vehicle, your fuel savings can drop by up to 1 percent according to the EPA. Whenever possible lighten up to conserve fuel.
Take it Easy
You can realized additional savings if you ease up on the gas pedal by avoiding both jackrabbit starts and harsh braking.
Add it all up and your fuel savings can top 25 percent. This means if you currently spend $60 per week on fuel, you may be able to save as much as $15 a week or $780 per year.
See Also — 8 Steps to Buying a Used Car
Jaguar and Ford photos copyright Auto Trends Magazine. All rights reserved.
1. A problematic vehicle history. What do you know about the vehicle’s history? Have you obtained a CARFAX report? (A disclaimer: this correspondent is a contributor to CARFAX). A CARFAX or similar comprehensive report should spell out the owner’s name, the service work reported, accident information and other details. Certainly, such a report will not tell you everything about the car, but a report that lists a glaring problem such as being hit on the side in an accident is a car that should be avoided. In other words, you may be dealing with a car with a bent frame.
4. Most performance models. The more power a vehicle has under the hood, the more likely the owner pushed the car to its limits. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with a performance model per se, such vehicles are typically prone to wearing out faster. For example, suspension parts may take a beating, the engine and transmission may have shorter life spans, and other parts related to vehicle performance may wear out faster.
7. The current owner is a smoker. You might be a smoker yourself or have nothing against people who smoke. But, if you are in the market for a car, smoke is one odor you may find impossible to remove from a vehicle. Moreover, ashes may burn holes in the seats or in the carpeting. Furthermore, smoke will permeate the fabric, settle inside the dashboard and simply pollute the cabin.