Reduce Your Summer Driving Costs
Reduce Your Summer Driving Costs Summer is one of the most expensive times of the year for drivers. If you have kids, you'll often be taking them to summer camps, to the beach, to friends' houses and so on. Even if you don't have kids, chances are you'll be going out a lot more in summer than in winter. On top of that, during summer you're probably regularly running the AC in your car. That guzzles gas like no tomorrow. It's in summer that fuel economy becomes especially important. If you're not careful, all that extra driving can quickly become a lot of extra costs. Here's how to make sure your auto expenses don't skyrocket this summer. ==> Inflate Your Tires If your tires are even a little bit flat, that means you're probably burning more gas than you should be. If they're flat enough that you can tell visually, you're probably burning as much as 25% more gas than you should be. That means that for every $20 of gas you fill, $5 is wasted. Inflate your tires. It only costs $1 to fill the tires yourself. Why wouldn't you? ==> Maintain Your Car Get an oil change every 3,000 miles. Change your air filters if they're dirty. Get your fluids changed. Maintaining your car generally pays for itself. A poor spark plug can reduce gas mileage by 12%, while a bad air filter can increase your costs by 20%. The bottom line is, it pays to keep your car in good condition. ==> Park in Your Garage A lot of people don't park their cars in their garage because it's so full of "stuff." Instead, they park it in the driveway or by the sidewalk. Unfortunately, in summer that means your car is going to get very hot. When your car gets very hot, that means the first thing you do when you get in your car is probably to turn on the AC. That's going to cost a lot of gas. Instead, why not just rearrange your garage so you have enough space to park in? Park in the shade or indoors and you'll save a lot of gas from reduced AC usage. ==> Drive Well Poor driving actually takes a lot more gas. If you're going over 60 MPH, you're paying too much. For every mile above 60 MPH you drive, you're paying about an extra $0.06 per gallon. That means that if you're doing 70 MPH, you're paying an extra $0.60 per gallon. Don't speed up too quickly and don't break quickly. Maintain a regularly speed whenever possible. Avoid having extra baggage in your car. Remove things from the back seat and from the trunk to reduce your gas usage. If you follow these tips, your driving costs this summer are going to be much, much lower.