Gas Saving Alternatives

While the rest of this site gives you tips and hints to save gas by modifying your driving or maintenance routines there are alternatives.

Carpool
Pair up with an another person at work who lives in your general area or join an organized carpool. You'll save money and share the driving so you can actually sleep or get work done during the commute.

The American Automobile Association, says it costs an average of 26.2 cents per mile to drive a car. This includes gasoline, oil, maintenance, tires, and depreciation. For a 40-mile round-trip commute, this comes up to $10.48 per day, $220 monthly, and $2640 annually. Tolls and parking are additional.

Telecommute instead of driving to work
More and more businesses are seeing the value of allowing their employees to work a few days from home. Some even feel that employees are more productive when they work from home. If your employer allows it then you should consider the telecommute option as it relieves you from having to deal with the frustration of driving to work that day thus saving you gas and money.

Walk
Do it the old fashioned way and enjoy the health and financial benefits of walking to wherever you need to go. Most healthy people can easily walk four miles in an hour.

Ride your bicycle
Get in shape and save gas and money when you ride your bike to do routine errands and trips around town. In congested areas it's not unusual for a bicyclist to make better time than a bus or car and have an easier time because there are no parking costs or hassles of finding a space. Many buses now have bicycle carriers affixed to the front of the bus making it even easier to combine the two.

Use public transit
Take the bus or train to work or for trips around town. Most local transit agencies have their schedules available online so it's easy to plan a quick trip around town or even a distant location. As mentioned above many buses and even trains will allow you to take your bicycle along for the ride, but check for any restrictions.

Try a Zip Car
Strange name yes, but the concept is akin to a community car that you use only when you need it and then return it so the next person can use it. The price includes gas and insurance and the cars range from a Toyota Prius to a Mini or even a BMW. Find more details at the ZipCar website.

YOUR COMMENTS

Two further tips to reduce motoring costs.

(1) Try to find a badge that has the same engineering as the better known parent company. For example, in Europe, Volkswagen have SEAT (Spain) as part of the group. My SEAT Arosa is virtually identical to the VW Lupo, but crucially it cost £2500 less when new.

Most other manufacturers will have similar examples.

2) If you buy new, try and buy pre-registered with maybe just a few delivery miles on the clock, or if you can put up with owning a slightly used car buy an ex-demonstrator model with just a few hundred or few thousand miles on the clock. Both will be considerably cheaper than buying brand-spanking new.

I've heard that if you put your car in neutral before coming to a stop you can actually save some gas. Does anyone know if this is true?

Of course you need to be careful not to jam it in reverse but that's understood.

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Save Money On Gas With Our Tips

1. Driving Tips [1]
   
2. Driving Tips [2]
   
3. Driving Tips [3]
   
4. Vehicle Car Care | Maintenance Tips [1]
   
5. Vehicle Car Care | Maintenance Tips [2]
   
6. Saving at the Pump | Find the Cheapest Gas Prices
   
7. Buying a Fuel-Efficient Hybrid or Diesel Car
   
8. Gas-Free / Gas Reducing Alternatives