{"id":475432,"date":"2021-03-14T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T08:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=475432"},"modified":"2021-03-12T13:13:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T11:13:46","slug":"heres-how-to-save-up-to-r17000-a-year-on-petrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/475432\/heres-how-to-save-up-to-r17000-a-year-on-petrol\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s how to save up to R17,000 a year on petrol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following hefty fuel price increases cash-strapped and Covid-battered South Africans have to find innovative ways to save fuel and money, says Bianca de Beer from Dialdirect Insurance.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that, with a few minor adjustments to your driving habits and with regular car maintenance, you can boost the fuel efficiency of your car by as much as 40%, she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, if you fill up 48 times a year at roughly R900 per tank, a 40% reduction in fuel consumption could save you over R17,000 a year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Saving on fuel by keeping your vehicle in shape and changing the way you drive may seem like a bit of a hassle, but if you increase your fuel economy by 40%, a tank that normally gets you 700 km could get you close to 1000 km.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This translates to almost a tankful of savings for every two times you fill-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Below she outlined some tips for better fuel economy on South Africa&#8217;s roads:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Service smart:<\/strong>\u00a0A car can burn up to 30% more fuel if proper maintenance is not performed on a regular schedule.\u00a0 With this in mind, make sure that your car is serviced regularly. Things like worn spark plugs, worn rings, faulty injectors, sticky brakes, low coolant levels, dirty oil, and dirty filters all add up to engine inefficiency, which leads to increased fuel consumption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wheel wise:\u00a0<\/strong>Check your car\u2019s wheel alignment. Bad wheel alignment causes more friction, which takes more power to overcome and results in higher fuel consumption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pressure check:<\/strong>\u00a0Check for underinflated tyres, as these, too, increase resistance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aircon costs a cool buck:<\/strong>\u00a0Use the air conditioning only when really necessary, as it places additional load on the engine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Deadweight:<\/strong>\u00a0Reduce the vehicle\u2019s weight by removing unnecessary items from it and, if you mostly do city driving, consider driving with only half a tank of fuel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nice and slow:\u00a0<\/strong>Don\u2019t speed. The gas-guzzling effects of \u201cstepping on it\u201d are well-known.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t stop-start:<\/strong>\u00a0 Maintain momentum as far as possible by looking and planning ahead, flowing with traffic and timing your approaches to hills, traffic lights and crossings better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Geared for efficiency:<\/strong>\u00a0Drive at the lowest speed in the highest gear that the road and traffic conditions allow, without labouring the engine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tech-savvy:<\/strong>\u00a0Many vehicles have economy settings to optimise performance, throttle response, ride height etc. for maximum fuel efficiency. Use them to your advantage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Plan ahead:<\/strong>\u00a0Do several tasks on one round trip, as opposed to many shorter ones. This not only limits mileage and the amount of time it takes to get your chores done, but also keeps your vehicle\u2019s engine running at optimal temperature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wait out the rush:<\/strong>\u00a0Battling through traffic not only increases fuel consumption, but also wear and tear on your vehicle\u2019s transmission and brakes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/473800\/brace-for-more-petrol-price-hikes-in-south-africa-economists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brace for more petrol price hikes in South Africa: economists<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following hefty fuel price increases cash-strapped and Covid-battered South Africans have to find innovative ways to save fuel and money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":299754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[11150,26],"class_list":["post-475432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-dialdirect","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475434,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475432\/revisions\/475434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}