10 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Slash Your Fuel Costs

Recently, the Indian Government announced a rise or hike in fuel and gas prices across India. This has understandably upset people from all over the country. A hike on fuel price means that the price of essential commodities shall increase as well.

Now, you can’t bring down fuel prices, but you can control your own fuel spends, and thus bring down your own expenses. If you have a vehicle, you certainly want to know how you can slash down your own fuel costs. This is what we shall cover in this article. 

India might be the world’s 4th biggest consumer of energy but has a low per capita energy consumption. Each year, more and more people are buying private vehicles, which leads to an overall hike in petrol and petroleum prices. Just in the year 2017-2018, there was a huge 5.31% hike in their prices. To meet increasing demand, the Indian government back then had to import more fuel than before. Did you know that 80% to 90% of the country’s income goes for the purchases of or meeting the bills of various petroleum products?

Now, all that was background information. What can you do to bring your own fuel costs down?

10 things you can start doing today to slash your fuel costs

1. Shake up your driving habits: Perhaps you already know that when you drive smoothly and press on brakes gently, you lose less fuel. Likewise, you lose more fuel when you are in the habit of driving fast and slamming on brakes. Driving on wrong gears gives you this same problem.

2. Service your car: A serviced car consumes less fuel. Generally, cars require servicing per 10000 to 15000 km once a year. Thus, if your car is well-maintained, you end up saving petrol! This even reduces your car’s getting wear and tear.
   

3. Change your filters: If you periodically change your vehicle’s filters, you can be rest assured that it shall be using precious fuel more carefully. Apart from changing these regularly, you should also change these if the car has been driven over a dusty or sandy area.

4. Don’t give it too much load: The more load your car has to carry, the more it will be compensating with an increased fuel consumption. Thus, whenever you can, don’t let it carry too much weight.

5. Check tire pressure frequently: Did you know that a fall of tire pressure, even by a small amount, can lead your vehicle to mess up its mileage. To save on fuel, you should ensure that its tires have adequate pressure.

6. Don’t use the AC so often: Each time you turn on your car’s AC, you end up consuming more fuel. Of course, you may need your vehicle’s AC during summer and all that, but when you do not, do consider turning it off. It’ll save a lot of fuel.

7.  Stop when the red light tells you to: When you’re at a traffic signal red light, you’ll see many cars still running their engines while waiting for the green signal. Don’t be like them. They’ll consume more fuel, but not you. Just turn off your car at red lights. 

8. Use Google Maps more often: When you don’t know the route to your destination, you end up taking more detours and ‘shortcuts’. And as usual, you exhaust more fuel than necessary. So why not use Google Maps during the journeys? It’ll take you to your destination faster and save you fuel money!

9. Don’t travel during rush hour: Let’s face it. If you dare to travel during your car, you will be caught in several travel jams. If you can, try to travel when the traffic is light.

10. Get a fuel Credit Card: If your main goal is to save fuel, you should absolutely get one of these! These give you free fuel. It’s true. You can use its points for free fuel.

Hopefully, these tips shall help you save on fuel money for a long time to come!