Tips for Increasing Your Car’s Fuel Efficiency

Saving money on gas is probably on top of your priority list and for good reason. Over four dollars a gallon now in the greater Chicago land area! Sounds pretty crazy if you ask me. Making your car more fuel-efficient can be extremely important for these coming months when gas prices are expected to spike even higher. That is why making your car as fuel efficient as possible should be a priority! Here are some tips to help you do just that.

1. Drive Sensibly – There are not too many feelings in the world better than putting the pedal to the metal and cruising down the highway. Despite this, nothing can be worse for your car in terms of fuel efficiency than doing just that! Aggressive driving, rapid acceleration and frequent braking wastes a tremendous amount of gas. Instead, drive the speed limit, try and limit your fast starts and use cruise control when you can.

2. Remove Excess Weight from Your Car – This is an easy one! Keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle just adds to the overall weight of your car, which makes the engine work harder. The harder the engine works, the more gas has to be pumped into it, see what I’m getting at? Avoid any extra weight in your car and I can guarantee you will also avoid extra trips to the gas station.

3. Maintain Proper Air Pressure in Your Tires – Another easy one, requiring nothing but an at home air station and a minimal amount of your time. Properly inflating your tires will make them roll more efficiently while driving, which negates any unnecessary lag you would otherwise have. You can also have this done at your oil change, or fill up at your local gas station for a small fee of 25 cents! Also, proper tire inflation makes your cars overall safety a lot better, which should be reason enough to fill those tires up!

4. Don’t let your Car Idle for too long – If you have a habit of leaving your car on while you’re waiting for something, it’s time to cut it out! Letting your car idle for too long can waste up to a quarter tank of gas per hour that you let it go. Not only will you save a lot on gas if you turn your car off while waiting, you will also reduce the carbon emissions put out into the atmosphere. There’s no point of having a car if we’re not on this planet long enough to drive it! Turn off those engines.

5. Turn off your Air Conditioning – I know the warm Chicago weather is right around the corner, and after that the HOT Chicago weather comes in pretty quick. It’s understandable that you may have to use the AC once in a while, but if you open a window instead you will definitely save on gas. By keeping the air conditioning on for an entire car ride not only wastes gas, it stresses out the engine making it work a lot harder than normal.

6. Carpool – This is possibly one of the most overlooked ways to save on gas and become more fuel efficient overall. If you can find coworkers who live near you or neighbors going to similar places, convince them to carpool! Not only will you reduce wear and tear on your vehicle, but you’ll save money as well. Ask them to contribute to a carpool fund that will take care of increasing gas prices, and of course offer to do the same in return if they drive their car. This is a logical way to become more fuel efficient, and possibly make some great friends as well!

With gas prices going up as high as they are, it is important that we all try and do our part to reduce our wastefulness. These tips above are some sure fire ways to help you become more fuel efficient, and save some money as well. Saving money is important, and will allow you to spend a little more on a better auto-insurance policy! Give me a call today and let’s figure out how you can help yourself by being more fuel-efficient.