Sky high petroleum prices, the recession and the menace of unemployment means that most drivers are looking for ways to decrease the amount of fuel they use in their cars. There are several things you can do to lessen your fuel bills that will not involve any costly modifications to your vehicle. In fact, it will not mean any modifications at all.

One of the first things to realize is that fuel additives do not work. None of them have been proven to work. On the other hand a well tuned engine will run at its maximum fuel efficiency. This can most easily be incorporated into your car’s annual tune-up.

Another technique to save fuel is not to accelerate quickly or brake suddenly. Try to drive smoothly and stay under 60 miles per hour. Fifty-six miles per hour is the most economical driving speed for many modern cars.

However, the easiest way of saving money on driving your car, is to turn off the air conditioning system completely. You have almost certainly already noticed that your car is less quick to respond when you have the air conditioning running. This is because your car’s engine is powering the wheels of your car and the air conditioning system. In other words, your car’s engine is driving two motors at the same time, splitting its resources.

Therefore, you should avoid using your car’s air conditioning system unless you really need it. Opening the roof light is a good alternative, which will not cause too much draft. The extra sun light is exhilarating as well. I personally like to have my window down while I am driving, although I am conscious that it can be very drafty in the back of the car if you have passengers there.

If you do not have rear passengers and you do not want too much draft anyway, you can open a rear window in order to lower the temperature in your car.

A vehicle’s air conditioning system is a boon if you can afford to use it, but it is also an superfluous luxury if you need to save some money on fuel. Some statistics show that a car’s air conditioning can cost anything between 5% and 10% of your fuel costs, if your are driving slowly in the inner city. Less if you are driving fast on the freeway.

Turning off the air conditioning is the simplest and easiest technique to save on your fuel bills. Many auto cooling systems still have fans and very powerful ones too. There is no need to swelter just because you have turned the car’s air conditioning off.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with split air conditioning systems. If you are interested in Home Air Conditioning Systems, please click through to our site.

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