Save money on gas.

In this day and age gas is on just about everyone’s minds, especially with consistent rising prices. I personally have a few ways of saving on gas, but nothing concrete or enough to actually save me some decent money. Here are 13 ways to significantly reduce your gas costs, brought to you by the great folks at About.com:

1: Choice of car. Granted this is very limited for people, 4 door sedans are usually the best bet, and cheaper than the popular SUV pick.

2: Upkeep. Believe it or not, if your car is in bad condition it can increase the gas use by up to 25%.

3: Steel-belted radial tires. They can actually pay for themselves in short time and decrease gas consumption by 10%

4: Gas tier. From the horses mouth itself, having a good friend with several Mobil franchises, I know now that unless your manual specifically states you need a certain level of gas, for example premium or unleaded, get the cheapest one. They’re all the same, save for differences most cars won’t notice.

5: Tire pressure. Every pound of under inflation causes up to 6% more gas usage.

6: Don’t top of your gas tank when pumping gas. Stop when it tells you to.

7: Don’t idle your car to warm it up. Running the engine makes it warm up faster, I also can confirm this. It works wonders on the way to work! I just bundle up before opening the garage door. 🙂

8: Combine your errands. Take the time it takes to drive between destinations each time you come and go from your home, and plan your trips out to save the gas of traveling from home often. This is probably the one you’ll remember and use the most.

9: Accelerate gently. Putting the pedal to the medal will burn your tires, and a hole in your pocket.

10: Watch traffic jams carefully. Plan your stop-and-goes.

11: Coast to stopped traffic ahead of you and apply brakes gradually. Don’t speed up and slam on the brakes.

12: Speed limits are there for more than you think! Driving faster, i.e.: 70 MPH takes more gas than 50 MPH.

13: Maintain a steady speed on the highway. Avoid slowing down and speeding up to match other cars. Cruise control is your friend! Careful not to fall asleep though.

[ Source: http://financialplan.about.com/cs/cars/a/SaveGas.htm ]

God speed and Best wishes.

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