What car owner wouldn’t love to save some money on gas every month? By taking steps to improve your car’s gas mileage, you can reduce the amount of gas your car consumes on a daily basis, reducing the number of times you have to stop to fill up the tank.

And it’s easier than you think…

There are a lot of factors that determine an individual car or truck’s gas mileage, and some cars will always get more miles to the gallon than others. While large trucks and other heavy vehicles will never get the same mileage as a small family car, these tips can help any type of vehicle get better mileage, saving its owner money and time on trips to the pump.

When a running car is standing still, it’s burning gas for no gain. In fact, restarting your engine uses about as much gas as letting the car run for 30 seconds. If you’ve come to a long stop, shut your engine off for a while to conserve gas. Also, avoid warming up for long periods of time in the morning: most newer cars don’t need to be on for very long before use, even in cold weather.

The heavier a car is, the more gas it takes to run. All the odds and ends that have accumulated in your trunk over the years may not seem like much, but the longer you have unnecessary weight added to your car the more gas you’ll be using that you could be conserving. If there are tools, boxes, and other assorted odds and ends in your car that don’t need to be there, take them out.

When drivers tailgate, they have to both stop short and constantly press on the gas to regain lost speed. Both of these things use up more gas than easing into a stop and maintaining constant speed. Maintain proper distance between yourself and other drivers, and you won’t just be following the rules of the road; you’ll be saving gas, too.

When you’re driving on the highway, using cruise control will keep you from having to press on the gas pedal, which increases the amount of gas used by making the engine have to work harder. Maintaining consistent speed, staying in one lane, and using cruise control all reduce the amount of work the engine has to do, increasing gas mileage.

Thanks to the construction of new trucks and cars, using the air conditioner when driving at high speeds conserves more fuel than driving with the windows down. Opening the windows increases drag, making the car work harder. If it’s a hot day on the freeway, turn on the air conditioner instead.

Unless your particular model of car or truck requires high octane fuel to run, buying more expensive types of gas is a waste of money. Octane measures the fuel’s volatility factor in the combustion chamber; it has nothing to do with performance. The only thing buying pricier fuel is doing for most people is running up their gas bill.

Desert Sun Auto Group is Alamogordo, NM’s top dealership for new and used cars and trucks,

specializing in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM, and Toyota. For more information

and financing options, call 888-370-9444 or visit http://www.desertsunmotors.com/.