Go the Extra Mile with these Fuel-Efficient Tips

As petrol hits a record high, Confused.com’s Carl Chambers offers tips on how to feel less ripped-off at the petrol pumps

Back in January, I blogged about the alarming rise in fuel costs in Pump My Ride! Why Petrol Prices are Sky High Again. Well guess what, that alarm is not only still ringing, it’s now so unbearably shrill that I’m considering swapping my current ride for one of those leg-powered Flintstone cars. Anyway, here’s an update on the outrageous prices that we Brits now have to pay at the pump.

In the 10 weeks since my last petrol prices article, three things have happened...

• the Budget has stuck a penny on a litre (with another penny rise due in October)
• the pound has lost value against the dollar (down from $1.61 to $1.51 )
• the wholesale price of oil (traded in dollars) has increased from $70 to $86 a barrel.

...all factors that have helped push the average forecourt unleaded petrol price to a new record high of 120.1p per litre (average price recorded 09/04/10).

Since the biggest slice of your fuel spend (around 65 per cent) goes to the government as duty and VAT, every penny increase levied by the taxman means around £13 a year on your annual petrol spend (roughly based on a car doing 10k miles a year with 35 mpg average fuel economy). That may not seem much, but there’s another 1p rise due in October, a further 0.76p rise due in January 2011, and all this on top of the almost 7p in duty increases since December 2008.

Now, rather than parrot my earlier blog, this time I’ll concentrate on tips to make your oh-so-valuable petrol/diesel stretch that much further.

Fuel-Saving Tips for Your Motor

1. Tyres: under-inflated tyres reduce fuel economy due to the increased contact patch (the area of the tyre that touches the road). Therefore, to aid optimum fuel efficiency, always drive with correctly inflated tyres.
2. Weight: the lighter the car, the less engine power it takes to shift it; and the less power required, the less fuel you need. Therefore, ditch any junk that’s lying around in your boot or back seat, and practice your ‘sorry’ expression for the next time you pass a hopeful hitchhiker.
3. Cheap Petrol: fuel prices vary from filling station to filling station. PetrolPrices.com locates the cheapest fuel near a given postcode. The site also reveals that supermarkets tend to be the cheapest, with 16 of the 20 cheapest forecourts in the land belonging to supermarkets (data correct 07/04/10). So next time you’re doing a ‘big shop’, don’t forget to ‘fill her up’.
4. Alter Your Driving Style: changing the way you drive can have a massive impact on fuel consumption. Gently accelerating from a standstill uses much less fuel than simply tearing away. Also, try and leave a generous space between you and the car in front to allow for gentle breaking. Aggressive drivers take note – never rev the engine unnecessarily, this simply wastes fuel and money. Whenever it’s safe to do so, switch off the engine rather than let it idle – some modern cars now come with this facility built in (such as BMW’s Auto Start-Stop).
5. Streamline Your Car: accessories such as roof/bike racks make a car less aerodynamic – and the less aerodynamic, the more fuel it will take to move it. Therefore, streamline your car by removing external racks when not required.
6. Drive Less: of course this is no help to people who have to drive, but if you can manage it, avoid using your wheels whenever possible. Consider making shorter trips by foot or bike, or see if you can car share for your daily work commute. Websites like CarShare.com or shareacar.com can hook you up with likeminded locals.
7. Power Down/Go Green: switching to a less thirsty, less powerful car can slash your fuel bills. Also, depending on the car’s CO2 emissions, you could pay less, or even zero, road tax. Your new car may even benefit from Congestion Charge exemption – handy if you regularly drive in the Big Smoke. Changing to a green car may cost more up front, but you could save money in the long term, and you’ll benefit the environment.
8. Compare Car Insurance: OK, not a petrol saving tip, but still a great way to cut motoring costs. Check out Confused.com to see if you can save on car insurance.

So those are my tips – implement as many of them as possible and you should start to notice the savings in no time. If you have any of your own fuel saving hints, or if rising fuel prices have forced a change in lifestyle in any way, please hit the comment button and let us know.

Comments

[dave fields]

HI, everything you have listed above is what everybody i know has done already, even check my brakes to see if they where binding !!. where will it all end. there should be a law that says the government cannot put more tax on than the product costs.that would make it approx 70p a litre.
the tax on tobacco caused people to look elsewhere for there supply in europe. what about cooking oil for diesels, there are plenty of sites on the net to make a few changes to it to make it better for your car.basically the government are turning us all into "crooks". then they wonder why to crime figures are going up.we must be the laughing stock of the world - goodbye Mr brown.

[F L Michael]

I was sent this and thought it a very good idea!
Please read to the end of this email and we could all save money.

The price of oil is as low as it has been for a while, the oil

companies have simply jacked their prices up and the government will not
do anything as they rake in extra VAT for every increase.

See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it, we are hitting
114.9 a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced
with paying 1.50 a ltr. Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain

day campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies

just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt
ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to

us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea,
has come up with a plan that can really work.

Please read it and join in!

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to

think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive

action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers.

With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to

take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come

down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol!

And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two

biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP.

If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce

their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will

have to follow suit. But to have an impact we need to reach literally

millions of ESSO and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!

Now, don't wimp out at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how
simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to

at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least

ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message

reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over

THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass

this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been

contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ...

THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all YOU have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and

not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends

this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt,

all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next

8days!!! Acting together we can make a difference . If this makes sense

to you, please pass this message on.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 90p a LITRE.

It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your
petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons Jet etc. i.e..

Boycott BP and ESSO.

[jay]

get rid of the car and get a mountain bike and a husky. it runs on water and can hit at least 20 mph. you don't even need to peddle so it pretty similar to sitting in the car. lol

[somebody_else]

To F L Michael

What you're suggesting had been circulating round the internet since at least 2005 - I know, because someone sent it to me back then.

I would ask you - are you aware that the BP petrol stations are franchises and the the people you will hit first are small family businesses? I can't speak for the ESSO stations, because I don't know about them.

Plus, if everyone who received this email did as asked and sent it on to everyone they knew, the first result would be to bring multiple servers to a halt.

All this is is a thinly disguised 'chain mail'.

[Alf Fisher]

I agree with the previous post. Well said. The supermarkets don't have their own refineries so where does he think the petrol comes from? We don't buy anything from Tesco as a protest against their policy of world domination.

What I don't understand is the huge variation of prices in different parts of the country. In places such as Norfolk and South wales, petrol is currently 8p a litre cheaper than it is in the A1 corridor. Why the postcode lottery? Another case of rip-off Britain> They charge what the market can withstand.

[Leisa Dreps]

The 6th tip will not just save fuel of your car, but it will also have a positive effect on the environment. Plus, if one walks or rides a bike, he or she will also be physically fit. It can be considered as a form of exercise too!