Wherever you look right now there is a general air of “it has all gone a bit wrong”. Tanker drivers are talking about strike action; less than intelligent advice from the government led to a run on petrol pumps for 4 days up and down the country (but it did net them an additional £40m before the end of the financial year … hmm …); news reports suggest stations are still running out of one or more types of fuel due to demand outstripping supply; prices have risen as much as 20p/litre in some areas. Negative negative negative!

If you need your car but cannot afford the price of petrol, and fear the strike action and shortages I’m sorry to say I don’t have a magic wand to make it all better. But there are some simple things you can do to make sure you get the absolute most out of every litre you buy.

Keep it Serviced – Your vehicle is a complex piece of machinery that works at its best when well cared for. Clean out or change that air filter, give it an oil change, or drop it in a little early for that annual service. A well-serviced vehicle can improve your MPG by up to 15%.

Empty the Boot - Is your vehicle used like a secondary storage cupboard? Do you have a boot filled with ‘stuff’? Every time you accelerate your car down the road, you’re using fuel unnecessarily by having to accelerate that ‘stuff’ as well as you and the vehicle itself. Take 5 minutes today and assess what is in your car. Do you need it? Will you use it? If the answer is no, take it out.

Inflation is Good – When it comes to your tyres, anyway. Dig out the owners manual for your vehicle and find out what tyre pressures you should have, then check them. If you don’t have any method of doing this at home, next time you’re passing a Shell petrol station, dive in. They usually offer free Water & Air at every garage. If you do a lot of high milage high speed driving, consider pumping 1 PSI above the recommended level for a little bit more of an efficiency edge. Check them monthly to keep that edge.

Kill Your Speed – Speeding might hurt your pocket in obvious ways, i.e. 3 points on your license and a £60 fine in your wallet. But it hurts in less obvious ways as well. If you get caught, you lose time. An average traffic stop consumes around 30 minutes. Your insurance premium may well go up if you get points on your license, which will keep costing you for up to 4 years. But going faster also consumes more fuel as well; Slowing down and keeping to the limit will keep the police off your tail, and more miles traveled between tanks. On 70mph roads, drop into the left hand lane and cruise at 60mph instead of 70. You probably won’t get there any slower and you’ll have considerably more fuel left, too.

Drive Smoothly – Harsh acceleration drinks fuel. Harsh braking eats brakes. Cut your maintenance costs and fueling costs by anticipating further ahead than you might be accustomed to by training yourself to look to the horizon. Anticipating events that appear to be brewing ahead (traffic lights, queues, junctions etc) and laying off the accelerator 20 seconds earlier will reduce your speed, and cut the amount of petrol you burn. As an added benefit, your passengers will enjoy being in the car with you as they no longer feel like they’re in an Exocet missile.

Idle? Switch Off! – It happens, and yes it is annoying, but it doesn’t have to cost your wallet as well as your timepiece. The gates come down at the level crossing just as you approach. Kill your engine: chances are you’re going to be there for at least 5 minutes. In a modern engine, 1 minute of idling is the same as driving 1km. Save yourself 5km’s of road driving, and switch off while you wait. You’ll also help cut emissions and noise pollution at the same time.

Find Cheaper Fuel – A little forward planning goes a long way. Don’t wait until your car is complaining you’ve got less than 2 minutes to find it some fuel or it’ll dump you on the side of the motorway. While I advocate only buying 3/4 of a tank at a time (remember – extra weight costs money to shift, and fuel is heavy!), I recommend doing your homework first before pulling in to any random garage. Today, the prices range from 139.9 in my area, to 151.9 for a litre of petrol, if you can find any at all! That’s a serious ‘per litre’ difference. Sign up at PetrolPrices.com (it’s free) and you can see what stations near you are charging right now without having to waste fuel driving around.

Take Advantage - There are some handy promotions out there at the moment. Tesco is running 5p off per litre when you spend £50 on shopping. Shell have a 10p off per litre promotion when you buy selected shop products, and BP and Sainsbury’s offer Nectar points. If all else fails (or indeed, as well) be sure to pay on a cash-back credit card that you pay off every month so you  at least effectively get some percentage off your total bill.

A few minutes work and modifying your driving style will save you literally hundreds of pounds over the course of a year with minimal effort, and ensure you get the maximum efficiency from your vehicle, and the most miles from your precious tank.

Shocking news out today from multiple sources suggests us poor motorists are already paying over 120.9p/litre and could be paying upwards of 150.9p/litre by the summer. Taking average family consumption of 200 litres a month for a 2 car household (2 fill ups for each car a month), that’s an annual bill of £3,620 compared to £2,900 today at 120.9p, or an additional £60 a month.

Depending on how your financial situation is, this will either go largely unnoticed in your spending, or could land you and your family in a world of hurt.

There are essentially 3 kinds of drivers in the UK: Those who couldn’t care less what the price of petrol is as their income permits them to absorb it without batting an eyelid; those, like myself, who can absorb it but object to doing so because it impacts on other personal financial goals; and those that simply cannot in any way shape or form find an extra £6 a month, let alone £60.

If prices do go that high (and given the reasoned argument for the prediction, I see no reason why they won’t), then some of the earlier frugal driving tips I posted about simply won’t cut it. Yes, they will help, but even if you implement all of them and achieve a 20% efficiency saving, it still won’t absorb the entire increase.

So what can you do?

Firstly, despite the paragraph above, do read over the tips and implement them. Just reading them and agreeing they are a good idea won’t actually save you any money! Get off your butt and away from the computer screen for a few minutes with the list in hand and go do them.

Secondly, if you have a gas-guzzling monster, it might be time to consider downsizing. My 2003 Ford Focus 115bhp TDCi diesel motor lends itself to fun and frugality in a heartbeat. Push the pedal to the floor and you’re launched off into the distance, but use a light foot and she will gladly carry you along at the national speed limit and cover 65 miles a gallon. Some smaller newer petrol and diesel vehicles claim upwards of 70-80mpg, but without the “get out of dodge” punch when you put your foot down. And given the desire to save money, downsizing to a 2003-2005 vehicle is more financially astute than shelling out for a brand new slightly more mpg-friendly vehicle.

Thirdly, it’s seriously time to start looking into lift-sharing. If like me you work a distance from where you live (and moving isn’t presently an option – see my earlier post!), then see if you can lift share with other colleagues. I work 30 miles from where I live, resulting in a 60 mile round trip every day. However, less than 6 miles from me lives another colleague who I will be hooking up with to share the burden of driving to work. After all, even with the additional weight of another passenger, driving 12 miles is more fuel efficient than driving 60.

Lastly, use the car less. This doesn’t necessarily mean inconveniencing yourself by having to use other modes of transport – of course, if you don’t mind walking or cycling, this is a great motivator! – but simply taking the time to plan out your miles. I kicked myself the other week when I drove the 2 miles into town, did a thing at the bank, drove back, then found a letter I had meant to post recorded delivery. This involved driving another 4 miles back down town to do so. Had I taken a minute, I could have shaved 4 miles off that day. If I’d had the time and energy, I could have walked down the town and saved 8! It might not sound worth the additional effort, but if you do that 3 or 4 times a month that’s 144 unnecessary miles travelled a year.

Do you have other ways to beat the rise? Share them in the comments!

Every Friday I publish “Frugal Friday!“, an open-ended series with some of the simple and best ways to really save you money both now and in the future.

This week I am concentrating on cutting down the costs associated with owning your car. Nearly everyone has one, nearly everyone needs one, and nearly everyone pays more than they need to for the privilege.

Cut Your Insurance Costs

Get Comprehensive Cover

Despite the lesser cover that third-party insurance provides, unbelievably the quotes are usually more expensive than if you had taken out comprehensive cover in the first place.

Shop Around

Always shop around for your insurance using price comparison websites to see how the quotes come up (GoCompare, MoneySupermarket, Confused, Compare The Market). Phone your present insurer and see if they can beat it if you’re otherwise happy with the service they provide. Remember, not all insurance providers are on price comparison websites (such as Direct Line), so be sure to get separate quotes from them as well.

Pay In Full

It may seem convenient to your budget to pay over 10 or 12 months, but invariably you will be stung by the company for doing so, as in effect they are loaning you the money to get the policy. APR’s range from 15-30% for this ‘privilege’, so if you can always always always pay for your policy in one go.

This has the advantage that if your vehicle is written off in an accident, you do not continue paying for car insurance on a car you no longer even own.

Up Your Excess

If you are not already penalised for being a young or inexperienced driver, then up your excess (deductable). The quotes vary wildly when you change your excess from £100 to £500. Be  sure you will be able to access such an amount in the event you need to make a claim though, as this will instantly be taken out of any payout you get. Any claims under your excess you will be expected to meet in full.

Drive Carefully

Hopefully this one is obvious, but if you drive like Jensen Button but on the M3 rather than Silverstone, you will end up having an accident, getting stopped by the police or if really unlucky, both at once. Not only do insurance claims knock up your costs, but so do points on your driving license.

Play With Your Job Title

I am not suggesting outright fraud here, but there is no escaping the fact the work you do has a very real impact on the cost of your premium. Martin Lewis over at Money Saving Expert has put together a job title picker to see if you could save money by tweaking your job title. Remember the general rule of thumb: If a family friend would agree on the spot that is a reasonable job title for the work you do, it is reasonable to give it to the insurance company. Don’t outright lie though, if the company finds out during a claim you could find your cover nullified.

Purchase via a Cashback Site

Once you have found a quote you are happy with, see if you can get the same quote again but via a Cashback site. You could find an insurer paying you £25-£150 for taking out their cover in doing so! Check out the CashBack Optimiser to see which site pays the most for the company you’re looking at.

Cut Your Fuel Costs

Shop Around

Just as I advocate shopping around for your insurance, shop around for your fuel as well. Costs in a 10 mile radius can vary by as much as 15 pence a litre, so it pays to spend a moment to check PetrolPrices.com and see who is charging what today before you go fill up. The site requires registration but is completely free.

Do Not Fill Up

Unless you have a long journey ahead, do not fill your tank right up. If you want to be really frugal, don’t go much beyond half a tank at any one time. Fuel is heavy, and your engine will have to work harder to move the car and its contents around the more it weighs. This tip won’t make you rich overnight, but over the course of the lifetime of the car, it could save you hundreds of pounds.

Empty The Boot

If your vehicle is anything like mine, the boot becomes a storage cupboard over time. Anything not immediately required seems to end up in it somehow. In much the same way as the extra fuel weight means less miles per gallon, so does the extra weight of the rubbish in your boot. Keep it regularly spring-cleaned, and only carry around what you really need day-to-day. Every additional 50kg of weight you carry in your car increases fuel consumption by an average of 2%.

Take Your Foot off the Pedal

Simply driving a little more efficiently can add up to 25 more miles per gallon of fuel! If your tank holds 13 gallons, that is possibly upwards of an extra 250 miles per tank. Anticipate traffic flows, look further ahead than you normally would, and knock some speed off your clock. Posted speeds are maximum limits, not targets.

Consider a Cash Back Credit Card

Citi offer a Shell-branded MasterCard that pays 1.5% back on the price of your petrol if you fill up in a Shell garage. This used to be 3% and much more worthwhile, but you may now find simply shopping around saves you more over the long term.

AMEX offer a Platinum Cashback credit card with a whopping 5% introductory cashback rate, but this also drops to between 0.75% and 1.5% over the long term.

Finally Egg Money offers 1% cashback but unless you spend considerably on it throughout the year, the £12 annual fee will eat into any cashback you earn, making the card uneconomical for anyone but the higher spenders.

If you choose to go for a cashback card, remember to pay off the balance in full every month. The APR of these cards will stunningly dwarf any return you could have expected from the cashback.

Keep it Serviced

A well looked after engine, is a happy fuel efficient engine. Change the oil regularly, change the oil and fuel filters and clean or replace the air filter regularly and in any case within the servicing schedule of the manufacturers handbook. Always look online for promos or specials on auto maintenance.

Keep Them Inflated

A tyre just a few PSI short of its target starts to lose efficiency. A 5 PSI drop can see the drag increase by as much as 4%, and this increases the work your engine has to do to keep you rolling. It will also start to damage the tyre and cause uneven wear, making it unsafe over the long term and also speed up the replacement schedule biting your wallet.

Turn The Air Conditioning Off

AirCon increases your petrol consumption by as much as 10 per cent – so if it is only a little warm, put the fan on or wind down your window. That said, if you are travelling over 60mph then having the window down increases drag which increases your fuel consumption – so air conditioning would be better. Better yet, keep below 60mph and keep the window open!

Other Cost-Saving Ideas

Wash At Home

Taking your vehicle through the car wash may save time, but at £5 a go for a decent one, it is not cheap. It will also likely start damaging or scratching your paintwork, only do half a job on your alloys and cover your windscreen in wax. For the sake of an hour on a weekend, it is far cheaper to do it yourself. Even if you want to buy brand-name goods to do it with, it will work out considerably less than £5 per wash. If you are content with a bucket of soapy water then you may as well put the whole £5 back in your pocket.

Avoid Dealer Servicing

If your vehicle is outside of its warranty period, avoid the dealership like the plague. An independent garage will likely do the same or better work for half the price. Case in point: My Ford dealership charges £125 for an oil and filter change. KwikFit do the same for £25, and my local garage charges £19.50. All use the same parts and oil, and the cheapest one also had me back on the road in the shortest amount of time.

Downsize

If it has come the time to replace your old banger with something a bit more modern, consider going smaller. A smaller vehicle will be more efficient, generally cost less to insure, and cost less time to wash as well.

Avoid Financing A New Car

Aside from the fact brand new cars lose value the moment you drive them off the forecourt (as much as 20% in some cases), if you have bought it on finance you could be making it much more expensive in the long run. See my own story on doing this, as it effectively doubled the cost of my car over the 6 years.

And the Biggest Saving?

Use your car less. This does not mean don’t use it where doing so would be useful, but if you can, combine your journeys into one and spend a moment planning out the most efficient route to do everything you need to do without driving along the same bit of road three or four times.

If you are just “popping down the shop” and the weather is pleasant, grab your bike or take a walk instead. Short journeys are arguably the most fuel-expensive, and if you can cut them out you will be well on your way to cutting your annual vehicle costs.

Anything I missed? Come help out in the comments.