Friday, June 27th, 2008 9:51 am by
J David 
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Four dollars a gallon! Four dollars a gallon!! I can’t believe how much I paid at the pump today! I drive a Lexus RX 400h; the h standing for hybrid. Yet, I am still hit just as hard in the wallet as anyone else. Sure, it doesn’t help that my hybrid SUV only gets decent mileage (about 25 mpg’s), but things are still horrible. The question I asked myself and the question it seems that everyone is asking themselves is, what can I do about gas prices?
Well, the short answer is nothing. There are market and political forces at play here that are beyond any individuals control. At the same time, there are ways to alleviate this pain until prices (hopefully) settle down at a more comfortable level.
50 Ways To Save Money On Gas
- Change your oil.
- Make sure your tires have proper air pressure.
- Don’t constantly haul around large items.
- Change your air filter.
- Take off your bike rack when you aren’t using it.
- Avoid things like drive through to stop idling.
- Avoid braking hard.
- Avoid accelerating too fast.
- Plan your trips in advance to avoid wandering.
- Get a GPS navigation system.
- Take off slowly when you are at a complete stop.
- Park in the shade.
- Walk whenever you can.
- Park in the first spot that you see.
- Join the gasoline company loyalty clubs.
- Sign up for credit cards that give your cash rewards.
- Use the lowest octane gas for your car.
- If your car requires a higher octane, try mixing it with a lower one to save.
- Keep your eye out for gas deals while you are driving.
- But don’t go crazy driving around for deals.
- Check out the web to find low gas prices (see below).
- Don’t fill the tank until you are really low on gas.
- Fill your tank completely full.
- Use the radio to avoid traffic jams.
- Stay on the highway as much as possible.
- Try to average 55 mph.
- Buy gas on Wednesdays (statistically the cheapest gas prices fall here).
- Buy gas a few days before a holiday to avoid the price hike.
- Go to your dealer for a tune up.
- Anticipate slowing down by keeping your eye on all traffic.
- Carpool with you colleagues.
- Make use of the carpool lane while carpooling.
- Avoid gas stations that are right off of the highway.
- Some club stores and grocery store offer gas discounts.
- Ride the bus or subway at least every once in a while.
- Use your car’s cruise control.
- Don’t shop at gas stations that charge extra for credit card usage.
- During the winter, don’t warm up the engine for more than a minute.
- Make sure your gas cap is on securely.
- Bring lunch with you to work, to avoid going out to lunch.
- Buy a smaller, more fuel efficient car.
- Buy a Japanese car.
- Buy a hybrid!
- Buy a scooter.
- Buy a motorcycle.
- Buy a car with a manual transmission.
- Get rid of your car.
- Sign up for ZipCars.
- Move closer to your work.
- Replace your car’s fuel injector.
Short Term Gas Saving Solutions
Long Term Gas Saving Solutions
Website’s That Help You Save Money On Gas
- My Mile Marker
- The Top 10 Highest Gas Mileage Cars
- GasPriceWatch.com
- Motor Trend
- Gas Buddy
- Gas Price Watch
- FuelMeUp.com
- AltFuelPrices.com
- GasNearU.com
- MSN Autos
How are you weathering the storm of high gas prices? Do you have any other tips for saving money on gas? Are you any closer to buying a hybrid?
30 Responses to “ Hack Gas Prices: 50 Tips To Save You Money ”
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The best thing that all of us can do is to reduce consumption in every possible way. By reducing demand for it, prices will fall. For too long have we been indulgent and the time for some major introspection has arrived.
Very useful tips! Many I didn’t consider.
Another tip is to easily convert your car to burn water into HHO (brown’s gas) to supplement gas usage in your car. It could potentially double your gas mileage in your car depending on the age and the fuel efficiency of the car.
Have you heard of this technology before?
Nice tips. Gas prices are very expensive in Turkey.
Great Tips! I have recently found that my little Chevy Aveo car actually gets better gas mileage than my motorcycle.
I’m considering investing in a motor scooter for short hops. They look really cool and the electric motor scooters don’t depend on gas at all - plus they are really quiet.
If you’re considering purchasing a motor scooter, check make sure you know what you’re getting into before you buy one.
Thanks for the gas tips. Gas over where I live is almost $4.50, which is outrageous!
What happened David? You have been unusually silent the last week!
yeh, cool tips to save gas
the price is increasing day by day, and i am planning for a bullockcart
That’s quite a good list on conservation there. One thing more you don’t need to plan on a bullockcart yet, a friend of mine recently got herself an electrical scooter that runs on a battery. Ideal for today, wouldn’t you say?
Thank you for tips. I’ll try its now!
Thanks for the cool things…
Hehe. Nice tips indeed.Thank you
Great tips. Up here in Canada, gas is more expensive. I’d like to buy a hybrid but hopefully the price goes down in the near future.
Gas prices are only going to rise, manipulation manipulation manipulation. Cheers for the tips.
The price you paid is really high…
Its unbelievable how much it costs now…
But could we change this?
Thank you for your tipps.
These tipps were really great.
25 of them were usefull for me, I think, I will save some dollars per month. Thanks a lot!
50 tipps are really a lot.
Very nice article!
Congratulations.
You guys should see the prices over here in the UK, I think it converts to approx $10 a gallon. Hence why I ride a moped!
I want a hybrid… My car is using wayyy too much gas. My parents threatened to disown me if i get a motorcycle lmao!
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Very useful tips! I’ve already started doing some of these. Even though I have a fuel efficient car, the current prices makes one think about gas costs.
Wow that’s a lot of tips. Hopefully oil prices have already peaked; they have been coming down a bit in the last week or two.
Here’s another one - shop online!
It’s like about $10 US a gallon in Australia
Good info. I also like the website fuelly.com The next couple of years will be interesting to see how high prices need to go before real change happens in moving away from dependence on oil.
@ Steve - something tells me we will always be dependent on oil in our lifetime, any other talk is election fodder I think
47. Get rid of car!
It really is that simple.
Joking aside, great list!
John
Thanks to these tips I have been able to cut my gas consumption about 10%-15%. Unbelievable how much difference it can make. Taking your foot off the accelerator when going down hill and having patience really add up as well. Every penny counts.
Awesome tips! I particularly like “park in the first spot you see.” I never really thought about the gas you spent circling the lot for a better parking place. By taking the first available spot, you’ll save some gas and get a little exercise.
That’s the most complete, but concise list I’ve seen focused purely on gas saving. Nice job.
The “move closer to work” is what’s saved me the most money. Ten minutes, no traffic, and filling up once every two weeks.
indeed. maybe write your legislator to ask them to support initiatives for research into alternative energy (including tech for cars).