Improving your gas mileage can help you save money and reduce your impact on the environment. This is especially important for those who use their cars every day. An inefficient car can cost quite a bit of money when you drive a lot. Your insurance broker might have some complimentary tips that will help you save, but you can start right now by paying attention to these five ways to improve gas mileage.
Obey the Speed Limit
Speed limits are set to improve safety on the road, but they are also a good way for you to improve your gas mileage. While efficiency differs from vehicle to vehicle, chances are that yours will perform best when you keep your speed under 60 miles per hour. Once you cross that threshold, you can expect to lose about $0.24 for every additional five mph.
Most cars are designed to perform optimally at about 60 mph, so it’s especially important for you to observe the speed limit when you drive on the freeway. Obeying these rules could potentially result in a fuel economy benefit between 7 and 23%.
If you want to learn more about your vehicle’s performance, then you can consult your owner’s manual, contact a dealership, or talk to your insurance broker.
Use Your Cruise Control
Using your vehicle’s cruise control on the highway will help you maintain a consistent speed. Most vehicles perform best at constant speeds instead of speeding up and slowing down a lot. Plus, setting your cruise control makes speeding less of a temptation.
Keep Your Car Light by Removing Unnecessary Items
Many people look for vehicles that have plenty of interior room and storage space. Just because you have lots of room, though, does not mean that you have to fill it up with heavy items. If you have unnecessary items in your cab or trunk, removing them will improve your gas mileage. This includes heavy sports equipment like golf clubs.
Excessive weight has a larger impact on the performance of smaller vehicles, but you can generally expect each 100 lbs of weight to reduce your efficiency by approximately 2%.
Keep Your Vehicle Aerodynamic
Today’s vehicles are designed with aerodynamic performance in mind. The benefits that you get from an aerodynamic design, however, quickly disappear when you add bike racks, storage bins, and trailers to your vehicle. You can reduce the negative impact that these items have on your gas mileage by removing them when they’re not in use. It’s a bit of a hassle to remove your bike rack when you’re not using it, but you can save a lot of money and spend less time at the pump.
Idle as Little as Possible
Idling can ruin your gas mileage. Think about it this way, when your car is idling, it’s getting zero miles per gallon. Turning off your engine at drive thrus, long red lights, and while stuck in traffic jams will improve your vehicle’s overall efficiency.
In general, large vehicles burn more fuel while idling than small vehicles. Many insurance brokers and dealerships have information about vehicle efficiency that will help you determine how much fuel you waste while idling.
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