Filed in archive Car Economics , Facts on June 29, 2010

How To Spend Less Money On Gas

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Gasoline prices go up by approximately twenty percent during the summer time because more people tend to do their travel this time of the year.

Right now, a gallon of gas costs an average of $2.92 compared to the usual $2.44 the rest of the year. It's really a simple case of supply and demand. Of course, there are other factors that affect gasoline prices which we have no control over like crude oil prices and federal and state taxes.

Still, there are steps people can easily take to control how much they pay at the pump:

Driving smoothly. Frequent speed fluctuations will result in mileage going down by a third. That's $0.14 more per gallon you spend on city driving and $0.94 more while driving on the highway.

Monitoring tire pressure. Tires that are inflated at the right pressure will cost you 4 percent less gas than when they are improperly inflated. And tires kept at the right pressure will have longer lifetimes too.

Sticking to the speed limit. Most cars will lose fuel efficiency when driven above 60 miles per hour. Keeping the speed limit will increase fuel efficiency by an average of 23%.

Driving a small-engine car. Small engines need less fuel than large engines. Period.