Your Wallet Is Leaking Money Out of Every Drive
Gas prices jump without warning. One week you’re shelling out $3.50 a gallon, the next it’s more than $4.20. They hurt your wallet, but you still need to get to work, run errands and live your life.
Here’s the good news: You don’t need a shiny new hybrid or electric car to save thousands of dollars on fuel. The way you drive today is costing you hundreds of dollars a year. There’s a good chance that small adjustments to the way you drive could cut your gasoline bill by as much as 15 percent or 30 percent next time you visit the fueling station.
The vast majority of drivers waste gas without realizing it. They push the accelerator too hard, stomp on the brake too late and fail to perform simple maintenance that would save them cash. These mistakes add up fast.
This guide outlines five guaranteed methods that apply to any car, driver, or budget. You will be told precisely what to do, why it works and how much money you’ll save. No complicated math or expensive gear is required.
Let’s start saving you money.
Tip #1: Drive Smoothly, Not Aggressively
Though it may not seem like driving smoothly saves gas, it actually does!
Your right foot dictates how much money you spend on gas. Heavy acceleration and abrupt braking will empty your tank faster than just about anything else.
Why Aggressive Driving Wastes Fuel
When you push the gas pedal to the floor, your engine consumes fuel in great gulps so it can make power now. The faster you drive, the less distance you go on each gallon.
The slamming on the brake throws away all the energy you just invested in accelerating. Your car turns fuel into movement, which it then uses to generate heat with your brake pads. The heat you get is wasted money hot air slipping away.
Research has shown aggressive driving can lower your fuel economy by 15 to 30% on the highway and 10-40% in stop-and-go traffic. At $4 per gallon, that’s an extra dollar squandered for every three gallons you purchase.
How to Drive Smoothly
Imagine you have a cup of coffee on your dashboard without a lid. Drive it as if you don’t want to spill it.
Pull away smoothly from a standstill. Ease on the gas instead of flooring it. Try to get up to speed in about five seconds rather than two or three.
Keep an eye on the traffic ahead of you and slow down well in advance. If you spot a line of brake lights or know that a red light is ahead, lift your foot from the accelerator and coast. You’ll often sail through the light just as it turns green without ever hitting your brakes.
Give the car in front even more room. This allows you to even out your speed rather than pinning the brakes to the floor.
Imagine driving as though in a video game and the most points are awarded for smoothness of ride. The less you brake, the better and cheaper your score.
Real-World Savings
With a 30-mile-per-day roundtrip commute at an average fuel efficiency of 25 miles per gallon, a driver can save about $200 annually by breaking those aggressive habits. That’s money you get to keep instead of incinerating in stop-and-go traffic.
The bonus? Not only that, but smooth driving minimizes wear and tear on your brakes, tires and transmission. You’ll also save something on maintenance costs.
Aggressive vs Smooth Driving Comparison:
| Driving Style | Highway Loss | City Loss | Annual Cost Loss (15,000 miles) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aggressive | +15-30% worse | +10-40% worse | $300-600 extra |
| Moderate | 5-10% worse | 5-15% worse | $100-250 extra |
| Smooth | 0% | 0% | $0 extra (baseline) |
Tip #2: Adhere to Speed Limits and Utilize Cruise Control
Driving fast feels good but it doesn’t pay. Each mile per hour over 50 MPH is like dropping quarters out of your car window.
How Speed Affects Fuel Economy
Your car has to work the hardest pushing through wind resistance at high speeds. Air is pushing back on your vehicle, and the faster you go, the harder your engine must work to push through that air.
Wind resistance multiplies with each incremental increase in velocity. Raising the speed limit from 60 MPH to 70 MPH doesn’t just add a bit more gas—it burns about 20% more fuel. For highway speeds, it’s about $0.27 more per gallon for each 5 MPH over 50.
The highest fuel economy on most vehicles is hit somewhere between 45 and 60 MPH. Drive faster than this and your gas mileage will plummet.
Smart Highway Driving Strategies
Use your cruise control on the highway and flat roads. Cruise control actually keeps an even speed better than your human foot. This removes the slight speed variations that burn additional fuel.
Your foot does this all the time, of course — a little more gas here, a bit less there. Such constant changes decrease efficiency by 5–10%. Cruise control holds speed rock solid.
Select the correct lane for your speed. If you’re concerned about fuel efficiency, stay in the slower-moving right lane. This will also take the temptation to speed off you, and keep you calm.
If possible, try to schedule your highway trips outside peak rush hours. Rush hours are brutal: They provide the worst from each world, permitting high speeds but putting a premium on taking off and stopping.
When Not to Use Cruise Control
Avoid cruise control in heavy traffic where you need to make fast reflex responses. On steep grades? Flip it off on steep hills, when cruise control will gun the engine to hold a speed as long as you’re going upward, burning needless gas.
On rolling terrain, you’ll be faster if your speed changes a bit. Let it roll down a hill a bit and take extra momentum going up, rather than fighting to keep the exact speed.
Speed Reduction Savings Calculator:
| Highway Speed | Estimated MPG (average sedan) | Fuel Cost per 100 Miles ($4/gallon) | Additional Cost above 55 MPH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 MPH | 32 MPG | $12.50 | $0 (baseline) |
| 60 MPH | 30 MPG | $13.33 | $0.83 |
| 65 MPH | 28 MPG | $14.29 | $1.79 |
| 70 MPH | 26 MPG | $15.38 | $2.88 |
| 75 MPH | 24 MPG | $16.67 | $4.17 |
| 80 MPH | 22 MPG | $18.18 | $5.68 |
If you put 12,000 highway miles on your vehicle annually, reducing speed from 75 MPH to 65 MPH shaves $250 off the annual gas bill.
Tip #3: Inspect Tire Pressure Once a Month
Underinflated tires are quiet little penny suckers. You can’t tell that they’re leaking fuel, but the money out of your pocket becomes real with every single mile you travel.
How Low Tire Pressure Zaps Fuel Economy
Underinflated tires sag, increasing the surface area with the road. This bigger contact area causes rolling resistance — friction between the tires and the ground, which makes your engine have to work harder to move the car.
You lose about 0.2% to 0.3% of fuel economy for every 1 PSI decrease (pound per square inch) in all four tires. That might seem little until you discover that most motorists are out there riding on tires that are 5 to 10 PSI low.
At the same time, tires with 25% less pressure than required waste fuel efficiency by up to 2-3%. At 50 percent underinflation, meanwhile, you’re wasting between 5 and 10 percent more fuel than you need to. That’s the equivalent of buying an extra two to four gallons of gas each time you fill up, then dumping it on the asphalt.
The Correct Way to Measure Tire Pressure
Purchase an ordinary tire pressure gauge for between $5 and $15. The stick-type or digital gauges are more efficient than the round dials.
Check your tires when cold — before driving or at least three hours after driving. Driving warms up your tires and raises the pressure reading, misleading you.
Look for your car’s recommended tire pressure on a sticker in the driver’s door jamb or in your owner’s manual. Do not use the number printed on the tire itself — that is its maximum pressure, not its recommended one.
Unscrew the valve cap, push the gauge home onto the valve stem and take a reading. If low, pump in air until it reaches the recommendation. If it’s too high, push the valve center down a bit to let out some air.
Inspect all four of your tires, including the spare. The spare is always overlooked until you have a need and then it’s totally flat.
When to Check More Often
The tire pressure is substantially influenced by the change of temperature. Tires drop by around 1 PSI per each 10-degree decrease in temperature. For seasonal changes, examine your tires weekly instead of monthly.
If you notice your tire pressure warning light, make it a point to check your tires the very same day. Don’t wait until the light goes off even if it does as damage to your fuel economy still occurs.
Check tire pressure before extended trips on the road. Driving on a highway creates more heat in the tires, so it’s crucial to begin with the right tire pressure for safe and optimal driving.
Effects of Tire Pressure on Fuel Economy:
| Tire Inflation Level | Fuel Economy Impact | Annual Extra Cost (15,000 miles, 25 MPG average) |
|---|---|---|
| Properly inflated (100%) | 0% (baseline) | $0 |
| 10% underinflated | 0.5-1% MPG | $30-60 |
| 25% underinflated | 2-3% MPG | $120-180 |
| 50% underinflated | 5-10% MPG | $300-600 |
Just keeping your tires filled to the right pressure could yield annual savings of $100 to $200 without you needing to make any other adjustments in how you drive.
Tip #4: Reduce Weight and Air Resistance
Your car works hard to make a hole in the air. Each added pound, and each bit of wind-catching stuff, costs money.
Weight Reduces Fuel Economy
Automobile makers invest millions in cutting the weight of cars because lighter vehicles mean more fuel efficiency. Each extra 100 pounds of weight will cut fuel economy by several percentage points, according to the Department of Energy — between 1 percent and 2 percent for a vehicle that weighs between 3,000 and 6,000 pounds.
Small vehicles are affected more than large trucks. Putting 100 pounds in a compact car could cause it to lose that 2%, while the same added weight in a full-size SUV may cause only 1%.
Reflect on what you have in your trunk at this moment. Golf clubs you haven’t hit once in months? A full toolbox? Cases of bottled water? Some boxes from your last shopping trip? All that weight needs extra fuel to haul along.
Clean Out Your Car
Empty your trunk with the exception of emergency items and your spare tire. Dump those bags of sports equipment, boxes of books and bags of old clothes you were going to donate in there.
Clear the back seat too. Children’s toys, the jacket left behind, random stuff — it adds up fast. A clean car is not just a good-looking car — it’s an efficient one.
Carry as little inside your car as you will actually use: tire, jack, jumper cables, first aid, probably a blanket. All the rest is expensive freight.
If you need to carry something heavy, take it out when you get there. Why drive with 200 pounds of landscaping supplies in the bed of your truck all week when you needed it for Saturday?
Aerodynamic Drag Matters Even More
The racks themselves — roof, cargo box, bike carrier or even those tiny flags that some folks attach to their antennas on the highway — all generate wind resistance. This drag makes your engine work harder at highway speeds.
Even an empty roof rack can decrease highway fuel economy by 2 percent to 8 percent. Add a giant cargo box and that jumps to 6% to 17% on highways and up to 25% at interstate speeds.
Bike racks, ski racks and cargo carriers all generate extra drag. Deploy them when they’re required, but remove them at the end of the voyage.
Even cracking the windows open while driving at highway speeds adds drag. When traveling over 50 MPH, run the air conditioner rather than opening windows. Open windows are actually more aerodynamic at under 40 MPH.
Smart Cargo Strategies
When carrying belongings, put them in the car not on top. The internal cargo is wind resistance-free.
If you absolutely need a roof carrier, opt for an aerodynamic model and load it judiciously. Sleek, modern shapes have less drag than boxy containers do.
A hitch-mounted cargo carrier may be a better alternative than a roof box. Loading cargo behind your car creates less drag than on top of your car.
Weight and Drag Impact Chart:
| Added Weight/Drag Source | Fuel Economy Impact | Annual Cost (15,000 miles) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 lbs extra weight | 1-2% worse | $60-120 |
| 200 lbs extra weight | 2-4% worse | $120-240 |
| Empty roof rack | 2-8% worse (hwy) | $50-200 |
| Loaded roof cargo box | 10-25% worse (hwy) | $250-600 |
| Bike rack (w/bike(s)) | 10-15% worse (hwy) | $250-375 |
| Windows open at 65 MPH | 5-10% worse | $125-250 |
Tip #5: Shut Down Your Engine When Idling
Your fuel is 100% wasted simply by idling. Because when your car is stopped with its engine on, you are effectively getting zero miles per gallon.
The Idling Problem
Depending on your engine size and whether the air conditioning is on, your car’s idling burn will be between a quarter and half gallon of gas per hour. That may not seem like a lot until you tally it all.
Ten minutes of idling burns more fuel than restarting. The old wisdom to keep your car running “because starting takes more gas” hasn’t been true since the 1980s. Modern fuel injected engines don’t need much fuel to get started.
Common idling scenarios can accumulate fast:
- In the car line at school: 15 minutes a day
- Drive-through restaurants: 5-10 minutes per time visiting
- Warming up your car in the winter: 5-15 minutes
- Waiting in the parking lot: 10-20 minutes
These short sessions of idling can clock in at 30 or 60 minutes a week, burning up to a half gallon of gas for zero miles traveled.
When to Turn Off Your Engine
The rough rule is this: If you’re going to idle for 30 seconds or a minute, kill the engine. The shut down to restart sequence burns fuel for about 10 seconds or so, and any saved shutdown-and-restart time after that length saves you money.
In a drive-through line? Turn off your engine while you’re waiting. Waiting to pick someone up? Engine off. Blocked by a long train at a railroad crossing? Shut it down.
Modern cars are capable of being restarted many times. They’re designed for it. You’re not going to hurt your starter or battery doing this.
A lot of new cars now have automatic start-stop systems that do this for you. At the red lights, the engine stops running, and restarts when you release the brake. Systems like these could cut city mileage 5% to 10%.
Winter Warm-Up Myth
You do not need to idle your car for minutes at a time to drive in winter. Today’s engines, which have electronic fuel injection, can be driven after 30 seconds.
Idling in your driveway isn’t the best way to warm up your engine. It’s better to drive easy for the first mile or two and allow everything to warm up while actually getting somewhere.
The engine, the transmission, the wheel bearings and everything else warm up only as you move. Idling only warms up the engine, and it does so slowly.
Crank your car, let it idle for 30 seconds to allow the oil to circulate properly, and then drive normally at moderate speeds. Your car is fully warmed up in about 5-10 minutes of drive time.
Exception to the Rule
Don’t shut down in heavy traffic, where you are still moving every few seconds. That’s the one scenario where it does make sense to keep it running.
Likewise, if you own a very old car (1980s or older) that still has a carburetor instead of fuel injection, it might benefit from short warmups in cold temperatures. But not for any car built in the last 30+ years.
Idling Cost Calculator:
| Average Daily Idle Time | Fuel Wasted (per year) | Cost at $4/gallon | Simple Fix Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 10 gallons | $40 | Turn off engine |
| 10 minutes | 20 gallons | $80 | Turn off engine |
| 15 minutes | 30 gallons | $120 | Turn off engine |
| 20 minutes | 40 gallons | $160 | Turn off engine |
| 30 minutes | 60 gallons | $240 | Turn off engine |
Pair These Tips for The Biggest Savings
All of these separate tips result in extra money saved, but the magic comes when you combine them. The savings multiply.
Real-World Example
Consider Sarah: She drives 15,000 miles a year in a car that gets 25 miles per gallon. She spends $2,400 on gas each year at $4 a gallon.
She implements all five tips:
- Smooth driving saves 15%: $360
- Driving 65 rather than 75 mph saves 8%: $192
- Correct tire pressure saves 3 percent: $72
- Removing 150 lbs of junk saves 2%: $48
- Cutting 20 minutes of idling each day: $160
Total annual savings: $832
Sarah now shells out $1,568 on gas a year instead of $2,400. That’s more than $800 back in her pocket each year by changing some simple habits.
Start Small and Build
That doesn’t mean you have to get everything perfect starting tomorrow. Choose one or two of the tips that seems easiest and give it a try.
Perhaps you start by checking your tire pressure and cleaning out your trunk. Once those are habits, work on smooth acceleration and deceleration. Then practice speed control and idling.
Every small improvement saves money. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Quick Action Checklist
Want to start saving now? Here’s your simple action plan:
This Week:
- Check and balance all four tires pressure
- Take unnecessary stuff from trunk and back seat
- Take off the roof rack or cargo carrier if you don’t always need it
Every Drive:
- Accelerate gently and smoothly
- Keep an eye out for stops and coast when possible
- Kill your engine if stopped for over one minute
- Keep to the speed limits on motorways
Every Month:
- Check Tire Pressure (Or Weekly During Season Changes)
- Assess your driving and look for potential improvements
- Monitor your mileage to track fuel efficiency
Before Long Trips:
- Verify tire pressure is correct
- Take off any cargo carriers after you return
- Plot your routes around traffic
- Set cruise control on highways
Frequently Asked Questions
Does air conditioning affect gas usage?
Yes, the air conditioning in your car cuts fuel economy by between 5% and 25%, dependent on outside temperature, humidity and vehicle type. But when driving more than 50 MPH it’s better to use AC with windows up due to the aerodynamic drag. In city driving under 40 MPH windows down is better than using the AC.
How much money can I realistically expect to save with these tips?
Most drivers who use these techniques together can reduce their fuel expenses by 15% to 30%. For the $2,000-a-year gas spender, that’s between $300 and $600 in savings. That will vary based on your driving habits now and how closely you implement these tips.
Do I have to drive slower everywhere?
Dropping from 75 miles per hour to 65 m.p.h. on a 30-mile highway commute will make your ride about three minutes longer. Most people barely notice this difference, especially when you’re saving $200+ a year. And you will spend less time at gas stations.
How frequently should I check my tire pressure?
Inspect monthly at least and weekly during temperature changes, and before heading out for a long trip. Tires have a natural air leak rate of approximately 1 PSI per month in normal conditions. For every 10 degrees of temperature difference, your pressures change by 1 PSI.
Is it better to put premium gas in your car?
Only if your car calls for it (consult the owner’s manual). Otherwise it’s not worth the extra 20-50 cents a gallon. Putting premium in a car designed for regular won’t increase fuel economy and is a waste of money. If your owner’s manual indicates that premium is “recommended” but not “required,” regular unleaded will usually suffice.
Do these tricks work on older cars?
Yes, these methods will work on any car. Driving smoothly, maintaining tire pressure, reducing weight and avoiding idling save you money even if you’re driving an older vehicle. Very old cars (pre-1990s) might require a short warm up time in very cold outside temperatures.
Do fuel additives really increase MPG?
Most fuel additives do little or nothing that they promise, and are not worth the cost. You’d be better off spending the money on good maintenance – clean air filters, regular oil changes with the right weight of oil and keeping your tires at their recommended pressure. Skip the expensive additives.
If I restart my car repeatedly, can it cause damage to the engine or other parts?
Modern cars are made to withstand multiple starts. Vehicles with automatic start-stop systems do this thousands of times a year. But restrict the activity to around 10 starts a day if your car does not have automatic start-stop, and drive at least five miles between start cycles in order to keep its battery charged.
Start Saving Today
Now you’ve got five proven strategies that can reduce your fuel bill from the very next trip. These are simple habit changes, not anything difficult or costly — and they will save you money!
The thing about these tips is, they stack. Each one of them alone can save you money but when combined, the savings they bring are nothing to sneeze at – we’re talking hundreds of dollars annually and thousands every year.
Don’t hold out for lower gas prices. It’s time to take control of what you can control: How you drive, how you maintain your own car, and how much fuel gets wasted.
This weekend, check your tire pressure. Clean out your trunk. Get used to smooth acceleration on the Monday morning commute. Set cruise control on your next highway trip. Turn your engine off instead of idling.
Start with one tip today. Add another next week. These skills will become second nature within 1 month.
Your car will run better. Your wallet will be fuller. Your anxiety over gas prices will fade away.
The cash you’re saving isn’t just digits on a screen — it’s actual money that can be used for more meaningful things in your life, rather than burned on wasted fuel.
For more expert tips and strategies on fuel-efficient driving techniques, start your fuel efficient driving journey now. Get more miles out of your next tank of gas.
