How To Save on Gas Without Changing Your Driving Habits
There are a number of methods you can use to reduce your overall expense of gas purchases even before you consider changing your driving habits or taking any actions on your car. These strategies consist of smart buying and good management of your gas purchases.
One of the easiest and most basic methods is smart shopping for gas. If you were buying a camera you would shop around for the store with the lowest price. For some reason most of us were trained to treat gas differently. You probably buy gas where it is convenient regardless of price. That is what you need to change.
As with any other commodity you want to save money on, shop around for the lowest price. Of course if you waste 10 gallons of gas driving around to find the lowest price it defeats the purpose of finding the lowest price. The trick is to do the shopping without wasting gas doing it.
If you shop around in your neighborhood for the lowest price fuel don't go too far out of your way. As soon as you start driving you are burning gas and that is the equivalent of having the taxi meter running.
The AAA has done studies that indicate that on average it costs approximately 51.7 cents per mile to operate your vehicle. That is the number for cars so if you drive an SUV or truck it is higher. At 51.7 cents per mile every two miles you drive to find a better deal could be costing you $1.00.
Therefore if you have a 15 gallon gas tank that you would completely fill , you would have to find a price lower than your neighborhood station by about 7 cents. Every two miles you drive after that you would need to save another 7 cents. You can see that after a relatively small distance it would not save you any money and could end up costing you money.
The best way to find the lowest price stations is to do so during your normal daily driving routine. If you do that you will not be using any extra gasoline. Have a small notebook with you or in your car. When you see gas stations that have good prices indicate the location in the notebook.
After reviewing the information on pricing and locations of gas stations collected in your notebook, you can decide to stop at a gas station that has been flagged in your notebook to have the lowest prices. Fill up at that station as you will be driving near it in the course of your daily route. You saved all the gas you would use driving around looking. Instead you are following your normal route and still able to take advantage of the best gas prices. The bottom line is you will spend less on gas!
Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page book of automotive industry insider secrets on saving gas and dollars at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to discover how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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