As petrol prices continue to rise with no end in sight, it’s time to fight back with some easy tips to keep in mind the next time you get into your car. If you are beginning to avoid filling up your tank but you need to take your car to work, hopefully these ideas will save you some money the next time you head to the petrol station.

One of the best things you can do to reduce the amount of petrol that you are using is to try and share rides with your co-workers and friends. If you are having trouble paying for petrol, it’s most likely that they are as well. Now, when you do leave the house, either with yourself or your friends, and make sure that you plan your route. There are countless stories about when people end up taking longer routes or back-tracking when they didn’t need to, thus, wasting petrol that could be used for other trips.

A good thing to do is take a look at your car for any issues that may be causing you to use more petrol than you should be. The first thing to check is the tire pressure, if they are under-inflated it can actually lower your gas mileage. The second is to make sure your gas cap isn’t badly sealed or even missing. If your car does have this problem, it could allow almost 11 litres of gas to be evaporated a month, plus you would be polluting the air!

Other factors to keep in mind when you are driving your car is keeping the weight of the car lighter. Did you know that gas mileage can increase by as much as 1% for every 100 pounds you take out of your car? You may not have 100 pounds of garbage in your car but it’s worth taking out everything that could be weighing down your car. Something that could be weighing down your car are the racks above it, if you never use them, make sure you take them off because they really could be making a difference in how much you are spending on fuel.

The final and more obvious way to save money on petrol is take full advantage of discounts and filling up at cheaper locations. Even when you are buying groceries and are rewarded with some kind of deal on petrol, use them because every cent counts. Also, make sure that you look into rewards programs that can save you money on petrol such as fly buys or AA Smartfuel.