Keep your car in good shape
A regularly serviced car will be more efficient on fuel. There are several major factors to consider:

• Make sure you check your tyre pressures regularly (at least once every two weeks). You can find the correct pressure for you vehicle from your vehicle handbook. If you do not have the handbook you should be able to find out the correct tyre pressure for your make and model from the sign next to the air at the petrol station.
• Fuel economy can be improved by 5% by keeping your tyres inflating to the correct pressure and using the recommended motor oil.
• Replace your air filter when necessary.
• Use the recommended fuel and oil for your vehicle for best fuel efficiency.

Avoid short trips
Avoid taking lots of short journeys where possible. So no hoping in the car to pop down to corner shop. Try to combine short trips so that once you warm up the engine, you keep it running for a while. Continually warming up your engine for lots of short errands will waste fuel.

Turn off the air conditioning
Try not to excessively use your air conditioning, as this will cause your car to burn more fuel. On the other hand, driving with the windows down is also inefficient as the drag on the car increases, especially at high speeds. Use air conditioning for motorway driving only when necessary and wind the windows down on slower journeys.

Drive safer and slower
Avoid erratic driving. Driving like a boy-racer by flooring the accelerator at the lights when in a rush or slamming on the brakes when driving too fast you will increase your cars fuel consumption (up to 60%). Try to accelerate and brake smoothly and steadily to improve fuel economy as well as your road safety.
Drive at the recommended speed. If you drive too fast you will soon notice your fuel gauge dropping just as quickly. Every 5 miles per hour that you drive over 60mph can reduce your fuel economy by 10%. If you’re not in a hurry to get anywhere, doing 70mph will use between 20% and 30% more fuel than doing 50mph - suddenly being stuck behind a lorry doesn’t seem so bad!
Don’t rev the engine. Ok so it might sound cool, but revving the engine whilst stationary does nothing except waste fuel!

Lose excess weight
Avoid driving with an unnecessarily full car. An empty roof rack or a full boot will add to your fuel consumption.

Avoid idling
Avoid excessive idling of your engine. Many people run their engines whilst stationary in order to warm them up but the car is then consuming fuel but not going anywhere. Instead invest in some decent de-icer and try to drive off straight away.
If waiting somewhere for more than a few minutes, e.g. waiting to pick someone up or waiting in a non moving traffic jam then it is often more economical to switch the engine off. Idling also adds to pollution.

Use the gears wisely
Drive in the correct gear. The correct use of gears can make huge savings on your fuel bill of up to 15%! Most fuel is consumed in the lower gears when starting as more power is needed but when driving at higher speeds you should drive in the highest gear possible for best fuel economy.

Read the road ahead
When driving, try to look ahead and read the conditions of the road.Look out for anything that might require you to slow down or stop such as traffic lights or someone attempting to park. By anticipate what is coming up, you’ll not only be a safer driver, but you’ll save fuel by starting to slow down early and not needing to come to a stop.