How to lose even more money over gas

Gas prices are way lower than a year ago but they are still very high by historical standards, and so is advertising for “gas-saving” products. When gasoline prices rise, we often look for ways to improve fuel efficiency.

Although there are many practical steps you can take to increase gas mileage (see the end of this post of some real ways to save your fuel costs), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns you to be wary of any gas-saving claims for automotive devices or oil and gas additives. Even for the few gas-saving products that have been found to work, the savings have been tiny.

The gas-saving products on the market fall into clearly defined categories. Although the EPA has not tested or evaluated every product, it has tried to examine at least one product in each category and found no category works in a useful way.

“Gas-Saving” Advertising Claims – Be skeptical of the following kinds of advertising claims:

• This gas-saving product improves fuel economy by 20 percent.
  Claims usually tout savings ranging from 12 to 25 percent. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evaluated or tested more than 100 alleged gas-saving devices and has not found any product that significantly improves gas mileage. In fact, some “gas-saving” products may damage a car’s engine or cause substantial increases in exhaust emissions.
  After installing your product on my car, I got an extra 4 miles [6.4 kilometers] per gallon [3.8 liters].
  Many ads feature glowing testimonials by satisfied customers. Yet, few consumers have the ability or the equipment to test for precise changes in gas mileage after installing a gas-saving product. Many variables affect fuel consumption, including traffic, road and weather conditions, and the car’s condition.
  For example, one consumer sent a letter to a company praising its “gas-saving” product. At the time the product was installed, however, the consumer also had received a complete engine tune-up – a fact not mentioned in the letter. The entire increase in gas mileage attributed to the “gas-saving” product may well have been the result of the tune-up alone. But from the ad, other consumers could not have known that.
• This gas-saving device is approved by the Federal government.
  No government agency endorses gas-saving products for cars. The most that can be claimed in advertising is that the EPA has reached certain conclusions about possible gas savings by testing the product or by evaluating the manufacturer’s own test data. If the seller claims that its product has been evaluated by the EPA, ask for a copy of the EPA report, or check www.epa.gov for information. In some instances, false claims of EPA testing or approval have been made.

To learn about some real ways of saving gas or money when pumping gas see:

1. Use the lowest grade gas which your car will allow – most modern cars will run on regular gas and the electronics will automatically adjust to the grade. Read the manual to make sure. Also you can just test your car. If you usually use a higher grade than regular, start with the recommended grade and add a little of the lower grade and make sure your engine does not ping. If it does not ping add more of the lower grade until it does ping and then go back to the previous grade.
2. Remove unneeded junk from the car – make it lighter.
3. Have your tires at the correct pressure.
4. Drive slower in freeways – I recently got a ticket and had to drive slower and my gas millage went up by 2o percent.
5. Accelerate less aggressively – I play this game of limiting my revs to half my max revs and that increased gas millage by about 3 percent – depends on your normal driving habits.
6. Use highest possible gear for a given speed.
7. Anticipate the traffic – by driving slower (at the posted speed limit) you will hit more green lights.
8. Turn your engine off if your are waiting longer than thirty seconds.
9. Combine errands – drive smarter and fewer miles.
10. Use cruise control in the freeways.
11. Tune your engine. Modern engines need tuning about once every hundred thousand miles but they do need tuning.
12. Change your oil in time – once every thee thousand miles with regular oil and six to seven thousand with synthetic oil.
13. Check and replace air filters regularly.

P.S. I live in California and we call them freeways. In England we used to call them motorways and I believe in most of the rest of the USA we call them highways, turnpikes or such.

Click here to order “My Very Own Name”, a personalized children’s book

All the Top Brands! Vitamins, Supplements, Herbs
At least 20% OFF retail! Why Pay More?
Visit eVitamins Now

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.