Once again, Gas prices hover at record-high levels in the Philippines and it’s more important than ever to keep tabs on your gas spending…
Here are some tips that will save some of your hard earned money and to maximize every drop of fuel in your tanks:
- Gas up in the morning rather than later in the day, as gasoline volume tends to expand in hotter temperature.
- Avoid traffic by using alternate routes.
- Avoid sudden starts, accelerating and driving at high speeds.
- Try to maintain a constant vehicle speed to avoid frequent braking. Studies show that one can save as much as 25% on fuel by lowering driving speed from 120kph to 80kph.
- Fuel efficiency can be improved by 5% to 10% with proper tire pressure.
- Reduce air-con usage during cold weather. The air-con imposes an additional load on the engine and can increase fuel consumption by up to 10%.
- Load the vehicles only up to its recommended passenger and/or cargo capacity. An overloaded vehicles consumes more fuel, particularly when travelling uphill.
- Avoid idling your vehicle for more than 3 minutes (or 5 minutes after a long drive). Up to 2 liters of fuel is wasted fort every hour of idling.
- Follow your vehicle’s periodic maintenance schedule. A tune-up every six months is ideal.
- Make sure the fuel cap is tightly closed to avoid leaks and/or evaporation.
- Remove unnecessary baggage from the trunk.
- Learn where to find the cheap gas. Like other businesses, Gas stations also compete with each other. “Big 3” (Caltex, Petron, Shell) stations with “Small Players” (Eastern,SeaOil, UniOil) stations nearby usually sells gas at a lower price.
