Ten Ways You Can Save Fuel While Driving

Ten ways you can save fuel while driving

The recent fuel crisis has left many motorists scratching their heads trying to think of ways to avoid frequent trips to the petrol station. The team at Cartime has pulled together these top tips to help you not only reduce your petrol or diesel bills, but also beat the current fuel crisis as well. #fuelcrisis2021

Tip One: Accelerate more smoothly

Did you know that aggressive driving, or driving like “a boy racer” as your Grandad might say can actually make your car consume up to 60% more fuel than drivers who drive more smoothly? Think about it, that is around 40p more for every £1 you spend on fuel. Now we know it is going to be difficult to do all the time, but the optimum driving speed has been shown to be 50 mph in the highest gear. Other ways you can improve your fuel economy, and that might be more manageable include:

• Pulling away from traffic lights smoothly
• No unnecessary overtaking when the lights are about to go on red
• No tail-gating and sharp braking

Slow and steady wins the (fuel) race!

Tip Two: Make fewer trips

It’s not really rocket science this one, is it?! Although it is not quite as simple as it sounds. What we mean here is try to plan ahead, so that you can maximise your fuel usage. A cold car engine uses more fuel than a warm one, so instead of doing several short trips try and do one long one. Of course, this can be harder during the week when many of us work, but it can be easy to do at weekends. For example, instead of jumping in the car to go and buy a pint of milk, walk to the corner shop or supermarket instead.

Tip Three: Tidy your boot

The heavier your car is, the more fuel it will use up to get you around. So, just like you wouldn’t carry around a heavy suitcase every day, unless you were going on holiday, don’t leave lots of stuff in your boot or roof box that you don’t really need. The neater and tidier your car is, the less fuel it will use.

Tip Four: Step away from the accelerator pedal

This tip may surprise you. This is not about what gear you are driving in; it is about what you are doing when you are trying to avoid changing gear. Some people prefer to press the accelerator right down to avoid changing down from third to second gear, for example, and this can actually use more fuel in the long run. So don’t do it. Step away from the accelerator pedal and change gears instead.

Tip Five: Keep to the speed limit

This tip is to do with the age-old conundrum – time vs money! It is sometimes possible, traffic allowing, to shave a few minutes of your journey by travelling at higher speeds on the motorway – but of course we would not advise it.

If you travel at 80mph on a 200-mile trip, for example, you may arrive 20 minutes earlier but you will have used more fuel – around £7 worth to be exact. So, travelling faster than the speed limit is really a false economy.

Tip Six: Keep your eye on your tyre pressures

Again, the lower your tyre pressures are the more fuel your car will use to get down the road. It is recommended that you check your tyre pressures every two weeks. If you are not sure about what the tyre pressure should be, you can usually find it inside the driver's door near the lock.

Tip Seven: Keep the air conditioning off

Ok, we know this isn’t a problem on most days, but we may just get a late summer yet, so keep this tip in mind. It is tempting to leave the air conditioning on all year around, especially on cold days when your windows may be misted up – but it uses a tonne of fuel. So, turn it off when the weather is not hot.

Tip Eight: Keep your windows shut

Following on from our air conditioning tip, you should also keep your windows up as much as possible – especially on the motorway. It's to do with the aerodynamics of your car, the shape of it basically, and the associated drag and lift. You can’t do much about the shape of your car, it is what it is, but you can avoid making the drag worse by keeping your windows and sunroof shut.  It is better to use your air vents as much as you can - and your air conditioning when it is boiling hot!

Tip Nine: Change gear earlier

Now you have to be careful with this tip as you don’t want to labour the engine, but changing up a gear at around 2500 rpm in a petrol car or 2000 rpm in a diesel car can make a big difference to your fuel economy. Some newer car models, such as those from Vauxhall, have ‘Gear Shift Indicators” fitted as standard, but you can get them retro fitted as well – if you really want to know the optimum time to change gear.

Tip Ten: Car share as much as possible

Obviously, the most obvious way to save fuel is to drive as little as possible. One way to do this may be to look for car sharing opportunities with others at work, in fact many businesses these days are actively encouraging it. There are also some car share websites where you can find people who may be doing similar journeys to you.

Hopefully by the time you read this the fuel crisis will be under control, but it is always best to be prepared in case it happens again in the future.

Here at Cartime we are currently offering 0% finance to drive away today on over 1000 cars – so why not come and have a look around? We’ve got some fantastic makes and models to choose from – including hybrid and fully electric models.

Browse our range of used cars online now or visit one of our showrooms in Bury or Rochdale where one of our award-winning team will be able to assist.