Do you get fed up of having to pay lots of money for petrol or diesel in your car? I know I do. Although the price of fuel hasn’t risen much over the past few months (in fact it’s gone down a few pence recently), the price of fuel still rises on an annual basis, and it costs on average about £15 more to fill up your tank than it did around five years ago.
But despite these gloomy facts, it is still possible for motorists to save money on their fuel bills by making a few adjustments to what they do and how they do it. Here are some practical and proven methods that show you how to reduce your fuel consumption and save cash.
Don’t use your air conditioning (unless you need to)
Although air conditioning is great for those hot, sunny days and for helping to demist your windscreen during the colder winter months, it increases the load on your engine. Because your engine has to work harder with this increased load, it will require more fuel to operate.
Consider only using your car’s air conditioning system when you absolutely need to use it, rather than keeping it running all the time. Climate control systems normally have an “eco” mode which will adjust your cabin temperature without using air conditioning.
Keep your windows closed on motorway journeys
Some people like to have their windows slightly open when they are driving, especially for motorway journeys. On those high-speed journeys, you should keep your windows closed.
The reason for this is simple: open windows will increase drag. This makes your car less aerodynamic, and means that you have to work the engine harder as you are effectively working against the air outside.
Make sure your tyres are correctly inflated
Another cause of increased drag in cars are tyres that are under-inflated. All motorists should be performing weekly checks on their cars, but in reality few do (perhaps because of the busy lives many of us in Britain lead).
Using either a 12v-powered battery inflator or one at your local filling station, ensure that all four tyres on your car are inflated to the correct pressures as per the required values in your car’s owners manual.
If you don’t have an owner’s manual for your car, you may be able to buy or download one, or you could request one from your local car dealer, such as a used cars Durham dealer.
Don’t carry around unneeded weight
Many people in the UK use their cars as storage for a number of random items, and this extra weight will effectively mean that your fuel range will be less due to your engine needing more fuel to maintain consistent power. Make sure that your car doesn’t contain any “stuff” that you don’t need to carry around with you.
Service your car at regular intervals
Another reason for high fuel consumption in cars is because they haven’t been serviced when they were supposed to, and as such it is not running as efficiently as it should be.
Consider having at least an oil and filter change twice a year (say every 5,000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first). You’d be surprised at the difference this makes to an engine’s performance!
