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How To Save on Gas Without Changing Your Driving Habits
There are a number of methods you can use to reduce your
overall expense of gas purchases even before you consider
changing your driving habits or taking any actions on your
car. These strategies consist of smart buying and good
management of your gas purchases.
One of the easiest and most basic methods is smart shopping
for gas. If you were buying a camera you would shop around
for the store with the lowest price. For some reason most
of us were trained to treat gas differently. You probably
buy gas where it is convenient regardless of price. That is
what you need to change.
As with anything else you want to save money buying, you
need to shop around for the lowest price. Of course you
have to be careful keeping in mind that if you use 5 gallons
of gasoline to find the lowest price it will be self
defeating. The idea is to do the comparison shopping
without consuming gas doing it.
If you shop around in your neighborhood for the lowest price
fuel don't go too far out of your way. As soon as you start
driving you are burning gas and that is the equivalent of
having the taxi meter running.
The AAA has done studies that indicate that on average it
costs approximately 51.7 cents per mile to operate your
vehicle. That is the number for cars so if you drive an SUV
or truck it is higher. At 51.7 cents per mile every two
miles you drive to find a better deal could be costing you
$1.00.
Therefore if you have a 15 gallon gas tank that you would
completely fill , you would have to find a price lower than
your neighborhood station by about 7 cents. Every two miles
you drive after that you would need to save another 7 cents.
You can see that after a relatively small distance it would
not save you any money and could end up costing you money.
The best way to find the lowest price stations is to do so
during your normal daily driving routine. If you do that
you will not be using any extra gasoline. Have a small
notebook with you or in your car. When you see gas stations
that have good prices indicate the location in the notebook.
After reviewing the information on pricing and locations of
gas stations collected in your notebook, you can decide to
stop at a gas station that has been flagged in your notebook
to have the lowest prices. Fill up at that station as you
will be driving near it in the course of your daily route.
You saved all the gas you would use driving around looking.
Instead you are following your normal route and still able
to take advantage of the best gas prices. The bottom line
is you will spend less on gas!
Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of industry
insider information on saving gas and money at the pump
(beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to learn how you can get
better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
This article is available as a unique content article with
free reprint rights.
