Nine Money-Saving Hacks On How To Reduce Petrol Usage

"It's a truly dark day today for drivers with petrol now crossing the thoroughly depressing threshold of £100 a tank," says the RAC. They've offered nine ways to help people reduce their consumption.

1/ Fill up at a supermarket - every month figures are released by the AA showing the cheapest places to buy fuel, and supermarkets are almost always the cheapest.

2/ Driving as smoothly as possible will maximise your car's fuel efficiency. Accelerate gently - and importantly, avoid excessive speeds and heavy braking. Most dashboards now tell you your MPG - you could set yourself weekly targets to try and get this up. If you do, take note: many cars are most efficient when driven between 45mph and 50mph.

3/ On hills, gain momentum by accelerating a little before you reach them, then ease off as you drive up.

4/ Roof boxes create wind resistance and raise fuel consumption - take it off when not using it. Empty roof racks add 16% drag when driving at 75mph, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

5/ Look at how often you use air con and heating - they drain fuel.

6/ De-clutter your car - extra weight means more fuel is needed to power the vehicle.

7/ Check your tyres are inflated to the pressure stated in your owner's manual. Under-inflated or over-inflated tyres cut fuel economy.

8/ Warm engines are more efficient than cold ones, so making one round trip is better for fuel efficiency than several short journeys, even though the mileage could be the same.

9/ Do you have to drive? Consider walking or cycling rather than driving for short journeys.

An RAC spokesperson said:

“With average prices so high – 182.31p for a litre of unleaded and 188.05p for diesel – there’s almost certainly going to be upward inflationary pressure which is bad news for everybody.

“While fuel prices have been setting new records on a daily basis, households up and down the country may never have expected to see the cost of filling an average-sized family car reach three figures. With RAC research showing as many as eight-in-10 depend on their cars many must be wondering if any further financial support from the Government will be forthcoming.

"March’s 5p fuel duty cut now looks paltry as wholesale petrol costs have already increased by five-times that amount since the Spring Statement (25p). A further duty cut or a temporary reduction in VAT would go a long way towards helping drivers, especially those on lower incomes who have no choice other than to drive.

“It’s also important to remember that the Government is still benefitting from the high fuel prices by taking around 30p in VAT from every litre sold. This compares to just 25p before Russia invaded Ukraine. On top of this the Government is still collecting 53p fuel duty from every litre.

“Other price records were also unfortunately set on Wednesday as the average of a litre of unleaded at a supermarket jumped 2.5p to 175.91p while diesel increased by nearly 2p to 184.13p. As we expected, other supermarkets raised their prices yesterday in line with the increases made by Asda.”