Savvy Shopper: Save gas money on those summer road trips
Write about saving money for long enough and you get an idea about the crowd pleasers. In my experience, fuel discounts really reach people. Show me a service station lowering its price by 10 cents a gallon and I will show you a line. A long line! If you like lower fuel prices as much as the next guy (or gal), you should love this article as it shares ways on how to save four times as much ($.40/gallon). And with summer road trips underway and gas prices getting preposterous, savings like these are especially timely:
• Trip Routing: When there are a lot of errands to run, finding the most efficient path can be a challenge. Although common sense goes a long way, the difficulty grows with as the number of stops. While some might suggest mapping your trip online, there is no way to know the shortest route without trying every possible combination of stops. Who has time for that? As it turns out, anyone! With trip optimizers like RouteXL (https://www.routexl.com/) or Mapquest Route Planner (http://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner), you have quick and easy tools to determine the most efficient route. When you enter your stops, route planners will re-sequence them as necessary to find the quickest and shortest trip.
• Clean out the trunk: Many people have an extra 100 pounds sitting in their trunk doing nothing. By emptying the car of excess weight, an efficiency gain of up to 2% is possible. This is the same as getting a three cent per gallon discount.
• Proper tire inflation: In addition to increased tire life, it is estimated that an average driver can save 10 cents per gallon by keeping tires at the proper pressure. In many cases, you can look up your recommended pressure on the driver’s side door. If that doesn’t work, the car owner’s manual will have it. Before getting started, get (and use) a digital tire gage. Despite the fact that many people think eyeballing for proper inflation is ok, it isn’t. You will end up with the wrong pressure.
• Oil: A mileage improvement of 1-2% (up to 3 cents per gallon) can be had by using the lightest viscosity motor oil possible. For example, if you are using 10W-30 oil in your car, you might be able to use 5W-30 instead and save fuel. With your car owner’s manual recommending a range of grades, consider using the lightest one suitable for your climate. On top of that, an additional improvement of 1-2% is possible by using synthetic motor oil instead of conventional. Although the price of synthetic oil is higher, the cost gap between synthetic and conventional is narrowing and the increased fuel economy can pay for the difference. Although you should always calculate your potential savings factoring your actual fuel economy, a rule of thumb is that synthetic oil can pay for itself if it is priced within $2 per quart of conventional oil. In other words, if conventional oil costs $5.50/quart, synthetic oil should cost $7.50/quart or less.
• Clean air filter: To keep your car running at its best and maximize power, double check to make sure your air filter is clean. If the air filter needs replacement, you might consider a K&N air filter (https://www.knfilters.com/) . In addition to offering improved performance, additional savings are possible as the filter can be cleaned and reused for the life of your car.
• Stop idling: At one time or another, you have probably heard that it takes more fuel to start a car than to keep it in idle. By this logic, a car shouldn’t even come with an ignition. The cases where this is true are so rare that you are better off shutting your car down any time you park.
• Cruise control: If your car has cruise control, use it as much as possible. In flat terrain like Lubbock, using this feature can improve your fuel economy.
• Internet/Mobile: Use GasBuddy.com to find the lowest gas prices near you. This website is frequently updated and should have current information. If you need this information while traveling, consider the GasBuddy (http://www.gasbuddy.com/App) or Gas Guru app for your smart phone.
• Loyalty discounts: Walmart and Flying J are two stores in Lubbock that offer loyalty bonuses on fuel. Flying J/Pilot's "My Rewards" program offers rewards for diesel purchases (Go to https://pilotflyingj.com/rewards/) for more information). Walmart offers up to 10 cent per gallon discount on gas for Walmart+ members (https://www.walmart.com/plus/fuel-discounts). Although they are mostly outside of Lubbock, Shell has a rewards program (https://www.fuelrewards.com/) that offers up to $.05/gallon discounts.
Although each tip yields small gains, savings of $.40/gallon are doable. And that’s not a bad start! Of course, there are other ways to save on fuel and the Savvy Shopping community would love to hear your ideas.
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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock Savvy Shopper Save gas money on those summer road trips
