20 Ways To save Money On Fuel Costs

 1 Know how much fuel you actually use per month
Know how much fuel your car is using? if you have an onboard computer it will tell you if not, fill the tank to the brim, drive a certain number of miles and fill the car to the brim again, from that you can work out how much it cost to drive that number of miles.

2. Don't be deflated
Reduced tyre pressure can cause your fuel consumption to increase by as much as an estimated 5%. This is one of the simplest ways to save money on fuel costs - check your tyres weekly and keep them inflated to the manufacturer’s specifications. Click here to read the informed guide to checking your tyre pressure

3. Keep an eye on your Revs
Keep a watchful eye on your rev counter - change up a gear before you reach 2,500rpm for petrol powered cars and before 2,000rpm for diesel powered vehicles.

4. Snails pace

What Car? magazine found the most fuel-efficient speed was below 40mph. The average car uses 34% more fuel at 60mph than at 40mph. A driver in an average-size car travelling at 90mph on a motorway will spend about £1.20 more on fuel every eight minutes than a driver travelling at 70mph!

5. Don't be a jerk
Avoid sudden bursts of acceleration and heavy braking, anticipate ahead, drive smoothly, accelerate gradually and use the engine to slow down where appropriate.

6. Go cruising
A car cruising at 40mph on rural roads uses 20% more fuel in fourth gear than it does in sixth, according to the What Car?

7. Too cool is not cool for fuel economy
Air-conditioning systems can decrease fuel economy by as much as 1mpg.

8. Switch off
If you are going to be stationary for longer than 2-3 minutes, save fuel by simply turning the engine off at the ignition.

9. Slim down
Any added weight means the engine has to work harder and fuel consumption increases. Start by checking your boot and remove any unnecessary items.

10.  Loose the accessories

Taking off a roof rack, bike-racks or roof box that isn’t needed will reduce weight and drag, increase fuel efficiency and save you money.

11 Find your cheapest local fuel

You can find your cheapest local garage at www.petrolprices.com. Remember to calculate the cost of getting there.

12 Don't go super
Contrary to popular belief, super unleaded petrol is unlikely to make your engine more economical.

13 Get a regular servicing
Regular servicing will help to keep your car running as efficiently as possible.

14. Get Some Exercise!
When your car’s engine is cold, it burns up to twice the amount of fuel as a warm engine does. Consequently walk or cycle short journeys, click here for the cycle maps of Edinburgh

15 Don't dribble
You can save a little at every fill-up by making sure you get all the fuel you have paid for out of the hose – lift the hose up high so the remaining fuel drains into the tank before replacing the nozzle.

16 Know where you are going
If you have satellite navigation, use it so that you don’t waste fuel going round in circles while stubbornly refusing to ask for directions.

17. Avoid getting into a jam
 

Always plan your journey, check your local radio stations or use the Internet to find out about any serious congestion, road works or road traffic accidents. If you have a sat nav device that will divert you around jams, that’s even better. It might help you choose the shortest, rather than fastest route, although this depends on whether the shorter distance is through stop-start traffic, which will guzzle fuel. Experiment with the different options.  Click here for traffic and travel information

18. Share and share alike
journey with someone from work and share the driving costs. You’ll halve your fuel costs, provided you can handle small talk before the caffine kicks in.

Try www.nationalcarshare.co.uk, www.liftshare.org, www.shareacar.com or a plethora of local schemes, to look for someone doing a similar commute in your area.

19. Make your own fuel
convert vegetable oil into biodiesel. Companies sell do-it-yourself kits that can produce biodiesel using a process that involves mixing heated vegetable oil (or waste cooking oil from cafes or restaurants) with other chemicals and filtering off the end product. The smallest kit costs £1,169 at www.greenfuels.co.uk and can produce 40 litres of fuel a day.

Production costs work out at about 15p per litre, and if you can get waste oil for free, you’re looking at extremely cheap motoring. Plus, unless you make more than 2,500 litres a year you no longer need to pay tax (up to July last year motorists had to pay duty of about 27p per litre on homemade biodiesel). Some companies sell ready-made biodiesel. You can find a list at www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk.

20. Go Electric
You could buy an electric car and cut out petrol altogether. A new Reva G-Wiz electric quadricycle looks (a bit) like a car. It will set you back almost £9,000, though, and will only travel up to 48 miles between recharges. You can also check out used examples from about £4,000 at www.goingreen.co.uk.

Have Your Say
What do you like about YOU car?  What made you choose it?  Would you choose differently now?  Post a comment below.....