Improve your Driving Habits

Making changes to your driving habits is an important part of economizing your fuel consumption.

1. Avoid fast driving in lower gears

If you drive at fast speeds using the wrong and often lower gears, you will reduce your fuel economy by as much as 40 percent.

If you are driving a standard vehicle make sure that you know how to properly operate the gears and know when to shift.

This is one of the common mistakes that many drivers make. Call it thrill, but there's definite attraction to speeding away from a slow speed – maybe you just want to prove to your friends that your car can do 0-60 mph in 10 seconds. This often involves accelerating really fast in your lower gears – and your fuel consumption goes up astronomically.

By paying more attention to your driving techniques you will find that you can reduce some of your fuel costs.

2. Anticipate driving conditions

If at all possible try to anticipate the driving conditions that you will be taking on your route. If you know the traffic is heavy on a certain road try to take an alternate route.

This also applies to driving conditions that may cause you to tailgate or practice some other inefficient driving procedures.

The cleaner and smoother your driving, is the more fuel costs you will save. Take the time to plan your driving routes accordingly. You'll find that in the long run you're saving yourself frustration as well as money.

3. Avoid rush hour

You should try to avoid driving during peak rush hours. When the traffic is crawling along you'll be wasting gas and creating wear and tear on your car.

If you are heading home on a Friday night and know that your commute home is going to be one long slow crawl you may want to consider staying close to where you work and running some errands in the meantime.

There is no need to start your commute home only to find that you are sitting in traffic with your car idling.

Knowing alternate routes to your home / destination is always a bonus during rush hours – so if you find yourself getting stuck in traffic too much, get out those city maps and find another way home.

4. Avoid running your gas tank too close to empty

Try not to drive your car when the gas gauge is on empty. You may think that you are using very little gas when your car is on empty, but you are in fact using more gas because your vehicle is running less efficiently as it tries to accelerate and decelerate in a normal fashion.

Keep your gas level above the quarter tank mark if at all possible.

5. Keep an eye on your gas consumption

The more aware you are of the amount of fuel that you use the more you can do to try to reduce your gas costs.

If you notice that your gas efficiency is decreasing it could be an indicating factor that your car needs servicing.

Make weekly comparisons with your fuel log that you keep in you car to see how much your gas consumption is going up and your mileage per gallon is going down.

If you are finding that you are constantly seeing less and less performance from your car and spending more for gas at the fuel pump then you'll know that you need to take action so that you can start seeing a savings in your gas economy rather than a constant deficit.