With gas prices so high and many people’s budgets hit hard by the recession, there’s nothing worse than the sneaking feeling that you’re paying more for your gas than you need to. Most people have already cut back in every area they can and are trying to drive their cars to be as fuel efficient as possible, cutting down on long trips.
These aren’t the only ways to minimize your gas bill. You can also take advantage of these tips to make sure you only pay what you need to for gas.
Beware of False Savings
Cheaper gas can be a powerful motivation to drive to a new gas station. If you plan on driving out of your way to take advantage of cheaper gas, make sure that you aren’t actually wasting money.
Calculate how much gas you’re using by driving there and back. Then, see how much money you have actually saved. Now ask yourself if you could do better by combining your trip to the gas station with other errands, thereby saving money, even though you may be paying more at the pump.
Don’t Top off the Tank
When you top off the tank, the gas that you are paying for isn’t actually going into your tank. Instead it’s just sitting in the hose or building up, ready to spill on the following customer.
Try not to Let your Tank get Empty
Gasoline can evaporate inside your gas tank and the more air inside the tank, the faster the evaporation. By filling up your tank before it has too much air inside it you can decrease the amount of gasoline that literally vanishes into thin air. This tip won’t save you all the money in the world, but every little bit can help!
Check the Dispensing Accuracy
Have you ever stepped on your scale at home and found that you get a different figure than at the gym half an hour earlier? That is because scales don’t work by magic – they have a device called a loadcell that measures your weight. Faulty load cells can give you different readings from different scales.
Similarly, gas pumps need to be calibrated and checked to make sure they are dispensing the amount of gas that you are being charged for. If you think you are being charged for more gas than you’re getting, ask when the pumps were last checked for accuracy. The longer ago it was, the more likely the pump is not dispensing accurately.
With the help of these tips you can be sure the next time you go to the pump you will rest easy, knowing that you are getting the best deal possible. Good luck and happy driving!
This guest post contributed by James Tennant, a technology enthusiast, with special interest in load cells and load cell calibration.