At the time of writing this article, petrol was at a ridiculously high price in Melbourne, Victoria. As such it’s important that drivers do all that they can to minimise their fuel consumption. The purpose of this article is to share with you some tips to help improve your fuel efficiency - to help you get further out of each tank so you’re not hit in the hip pocket with these unusually high petrol prices.
The weight of your vehicle has a big impact on the fuel efficiency of your car and, unfortunately, many people just aren’t motivated to clean out their car - they spend way too long carrying around unnecessary “stuff” in their cars. This extra weight means that these vehicles require extra fuel to cover the same distance as the same model car would need covering the same distance. Let’s look at some ways to remove “junk” and reduce fuel consumption.
You should clean out the boot of your car - Many people carry around extra “things” in their boot and, in perhaps a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” it gets left there until it needs to get replaced by other “stuff.” Unless you are transporting things and the boot space is required, you should leave your boot empty to maximise fuel efficiency. You should remove unnecessary accessories like roof racks - Roof racks allow you to carry extra stuff with you. They can be amazingly useful when travelling. But you should not leave roof racks or cargo boxes on your car when you are not using them. This decreases wind resistance and weight and can have a large impact on fuel efficiency. Yes it might be annoying to take them off and put them back on again but removing roof racks when not in use will save you money.
You should remove extra seating if not needed - This option is obviously not relevant for all vehicles but can be useful for some bigger 4WD. Some bigger vehicles can have an extra set of seats in the back - making a 5 seater car into a 7 seater car. If these seats are not needed and can be removed, this lightening of your load can help you improve your fuel efficiency - it does have the double bonus of also giving you more storage space if needed to transport things.
You should clean the junk out of your car. I’m not just talking about rubbish - you should clean this out but it doesn’t way much - but you should follow the tips that I have mentioned above to lighten the load of your vehicle. This means that you can travel with your vehicle travelling at its most fuel efficient.
We also have a lot of clients who buy delivery vehicle tyres from us, and we see a lot of unnecessary items in their vans, that could be removed. It all adds up.