How to Improve Your Car’s Efficiency

Having your own car is relatively costly. You are likely to find yourself forking out for all sorts of outgoings, ranging from car finance payments to insurance, road tax, repairs and more. One ongoing cost you’re likely to face is fuel, and the price of this can fluctuate drastically from one week to the next. 

Of course, everyone likes to save money where possible, and while there’s not much you can do about the price of fuel in your area, there are a few things that you can do to improve the fuel efficiency of your vehicle and save money on fuel overall. 

Here are just a few suggestions that can help to increase your car’s fuel economy and reduce your outgoings!

Remove Unnecessary Weight in Your Car

You may not have considered this before, but the weight of your vehicle can significantly impact your fuel efficiency. Heavier vehicles have greater inertia and greater rolling resistance. This results in increased fuel consumption and increased costs. 

Of course, you can’t change the weight of your actual car, but this same logic applies to luggage within your car. If you load your car up with unnecessary items (such as items in the boot), your car will weigh more overall and use more fuel overall. Remove unnecessary items or luggage from your vehicle if possible.

Reduce Drag

Cars are designed to be aerodynamic. But many of us add things like carry kits and roof boxes to our vehicles. This creates drag, which can result in the car having to use more fuel to power itself forward. 

Sure, you may need roof boxes when they’re actually being used. However, don’t leave them on your roof when they’re empty. They simply cost you money every journey unnecessarily. Put them in storage instead!

Maintain Your Tires

Believe it or not, the energy required by tyres to overcome rolling resistance equates to around 20% of a vehicle’s fuel consumption. This essentially means that one full tank of fuel out of five is used by the tyres. 

The better you maintain your tyres, the less rolling resistance there will be. Make sure to have your tyres checked regularly, to ensure that they always have sufficient air in them and replace them whenever necessary. 

An auto repair shop will be able to do this for you, as well as taking care of any other issues you may be experiencing with your car, whether that’s scratches, dents or anything else.

Plan Journeys in Advance

This is less to do with your vehicle itself and more to do with reducing the amount that you travel. By planning your journeys in advance, you can reduce the amount of wrong turns and missed turns you experience. This means that you will get from A to B in the fastest time or shortest route possible, reducing the amount of fuel used along the way!

Each of these steps is a surefire way to reduce the amount of fuel your vehicle uses and to significantly increase your vehicle’s efficiency. Hopefully, the information will come in useful for you!