Festive season tips to save at the pumps

With the festive season around the corner and many South Africans in dire need of a break, the main focus of attention will soon centre around making their vehicle holiday ready.

The biggest point of content though resides not with where to go, but how to get there in the most efficient way as possible given the seemingly never-ending fuel price increases.

With this mind, here are six tips to prevent your vehicle costing more in fuel than your original estimation.

• Service before leaving

Without doubt the most important, an extensive service before setting off not only adds peace of mind, but prevents the forking out of more money at the pumps due to the various mechanical components being new.

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Unlike the worn “old items” replacement parts contributes to the engine not working as hard as usual because of less friction, therefore, resulting not only in better performance but improved consumption.

• On the roof?

While South African’s love for the outdoors is well-known, it could be costing them more in the guise of roof racks, roof boxes or any large items placed on the roof.

Simply put, placing items on roof tops worsens wind resistance and a vehicle’s drag that causes the engine to work harder and consume more fuel. Prevention would be to pack lighter if possible with the heavy item placed inside the boot rather than inside the cabin.

• Pressure check

A big point of content are tyres. While the fitting of new boots is without doubt a must, checking the pressures of the existing ones not only comes as a safety benefit, but also at the pumps as the correct pressures won’t lead to excessive rolling resistance and blunting of consumption.

As much as over-inflation needs to be avoided, under-inflation needs to be addressed before setting off. It is, therefore, a must to consult the vehicle’s handbook or do research online to determine the ideal pressures.

• Check your speed

The topic of speed is equally as well known and despite long running reports of a lower V-max being installed on the country’s highways to improve safety, the simple answer is that a lack of enforcing won’t lead to a reduction in casualties regardless of how low the speed drops.

At the same time, speeding-up consumes more fuel than sticking to the speed limit, which comes not only at a cost to one’s wallet, but could lead to worse things.

• Your car is not a truck

With packing comes overloading and a sure bet on higher than normal petrol consumption. As with sensible packing, avoiding overloading rates as key to avoid forking out more unnecessarily.

For more information, visit aa.co.za.