The average fuel cost in 2023 was 15.93 cents per mile, equivalent to 19.6% of the vehicle’s total cost of ownership (TCO). Experts predict driving costs to increase over the next few years due to factors such as surging global gas prices. To improve your profit margins, it’s important to learn how to get better gas mileage from your vehicle before costs increase.
In this guide, we’ll discuss practical tips to help you improve your fuel economy. We'll use actual figures when possible, to show you how each tip impacts your potential savings. We’ll also share how business owners can enforce their vehicle policy and reduce fleet operating costs by using the best mileage tracking app.
Track mileage accurately and simplify mileage reimbursement
Gas mileage, also referred to as fuel economy, measures how far a vehicle can travel on a gallon of fuel. This measurement is expressed in miles per gallon (mpg). Various factors affect fuel economy, including:
Engine size: The size of the car’s engine is one of the most significant factors in fuel economy. Generally, a smaller engine requires less fuel to run, so it’s more efficient than a larger one under the same driving conditions.
Aerodynamic drag: Aerodynamic drag is the force that slows down a vehicle as it moves. This force is affected by atmospheric conditions, wind speed, and the frontal area of the vehicle. Vehicles with smooth lines, curves, and well-designed shapes experience less drag and are more fuel-efficient than boxy cars.
Mechanical resistance: While drag is applied by external factors, mechanical resistance is caused by the vehicle's internal components. The force refers to the energy the car requires to move different elements in its drivetrain, such as wheel bearings, transmission, axels, etc. The higher the mechanical resistance, the lower the car’s fuel efficiency.
Vehicle weight: The heavier the vehicle, the higher the vehicle’s rolling resistance is and the more fuel it requires to move. SUVs consume 20% more fuel than medium-sized vehicles. Packing heavy items in the backseat or trunk of a light car impacts its fuel economy.
Driving habits: Some driving habits, such as rapid acceleration, hard braking, consistent idling, and excessive speeding, negatively impact a vehicle's fuel economy.
Top 6 Fuel Saving Strategies
Now that you know the factors affecting fuel economy, let's explore tactics for countering these factors to save fuel.
Purchase a Fuel-Efficient Car
Using a fuel-efficient car can substantially lower vehicle operating costs. Upgrading from an older 20-mpg car to a newer 35-mpg vehicle can result in significant cost savings every time you fill up at the pump.
We used the fuel economy calculator to compute how much money you could save in a year with this upgrade. In our simulated case, a driver travels 15,000 miles a year, with 55% of the driving occurring in the city. The vehicle with a fuel economy rate of 35 mpg saves 7.4 cents per mile or $1,106 per year compared to the vehicle with 20 mpg.
These cost savings may sound insignificant for freelancers and solopreneurs that only use one vehicle. However, small business owners making the switch to fuel-efficient vehicles could save staggering amounts on operating costs to manage a large fleet of cars.
Check out the best fuel-efficient car guide to explore our list of vehicles that rank the best in terms of good gas mileage. Topping the list is the Toyota Prius, which delivers up to 57 mpg.
Travel With Less Weight
When using your car for business purposes, it’s common to carry equipment or work materials around with you. But remember that the more weight you pack in the trunk, back seat, or on the tailgate, the less fuel efficient your vehicle becomes.
Carrying an extra 100 pounds in your car reduces fuel economy by 1%. Additionally, hauling cargo on roof racks increases wind resistance (aerodynamic drag), reducing fuel economy by 10% to 25% at interstate speeds, 6% to 17% on the highway, and 2% to 8% in the city.
To get the best gas mileage, only pack the equipment you need for work and leave the rest at home or your office to remove extra weight. If you have to bring heavy equipment with you, experts recommend using rear-mounted racks or cargo boxes. Rear-mounted cargo boxes reduce fuel economy by 1% to 5% on the highway and 1% to 2% in the city, which is more desirable than the rates encountered when hauling cargo on the roof.
Perform Regular Maintenance
Regularly servicing your vehicle can increase your gas mileage rates. Remember, the components of your vehicle work closely together to keep the engine running smoothly. If one part of the drivetrain is poorly maintained, the engine will be less efficient, causing the vehicle to waste gas.
Here are some helpful vehicle maintenance tips:
Keep Tire Pressure in Check
The tires should be well-aligned and optimally inflated. Underinflated tires increase the vehicle's rolling resistance and generate more friction, reducing fuel economy. Properly inflated tires improve gas mileage by 0.6% — in some cases, the fuel economy can improve up to 3%.
Each vehicle has unique specifications for tire pressure, but most models fall between 28 and 36 pounds per square inch (PSI). Before inflating your tires, check your vehicle’s tire pressure specifications found in the owner’s manual or the sticker located on the inside of the driver’s door.
If your tires fall out of alignment, they won’t track the road together. This increases the vehicle’s rolling resistance, compelling the engine and transmission to work harder to propel the car, which leads to higher fuel usage.
Address Engine Issues Immediately
Don’t ignore the engine light or malfunction indicator lamp on your dashboard. Get your mechanic to inspect the vehicle as soon as any warning light comes on. The issue could be minor, but when left unaddressed, it could escalate to a full-blown problem, impacting your fuel economy significantly.
Replace Spark Plugs
Spark plugs perform different but critical jobs — they are necessary to start the engine and facilitate combustion to power the pistons. Worn spark plugs can cause misfires and incomplete combustion, resulting in wasted gas and increased carbon emissions.
Manufacturers design spark plugs to last approximately 100,000 miles, but most won't last that long. For this reason, experts recommend replacing the sparks between 30,000 and 60,000 miles. You can do it much earlier, especially if you notice a sharp decline in your vehicle’s average mpg rate or have trouble starting the engine.
Change Air Filters
The engine needs oxygen to burn fuel. Dirty or clogged air filters inhibit air (oxygen) flow into the engine. Restricted air flow causes incomplete fuel combustion, leading to a 10% increase in fuel usage, especially in older vehicles (pre-1999).
The air throttle in modern cars with fuel-injected engines indirectly decreases fuel efficiency. The newer engines use sensors to measure airflow. In case of an air throttle, the car’s onboard computer may cut back on fuel and adjust engine operation to compensate. As a result, the engine lacks power, which decreases fuel economy.
Many vehicles' maintenance schedules recommend changing the air filters every 15,000 to 30,000 miles. However, you can change them more regularly if you drive in dusty conditions, on unpaved roads, or in heavy traffic during hot weather.
Replace Oxygen Sensors
An oxygen sensor is mounted in the vehicle’s exhaust system to measure the amount of oxygen the car releases through the tailpipe. The engine computer and injectors use the data to adjust the fuel injection quantity for an efficient combustion cycle.
When the air sensor fails, it feeds the vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU) with imprecise oxygen quantity data. This leads to an unbalanced air-to-fuel ratio, which can increase fuel usage by up to 15%.
Oxygen sensors aren’t among the items you need to perform maintenance on regularly, unlike air filter replacements or motor oil changes. Typically, you replace the vehicle’s oxygen filters only when they fail. Unlike other engine issues, the car won’t alert you when oxygen filters fail. You have to rely on other signs, such as checking engine lights or noticing a sudden increase in fuel consumption.
Drive with Fuel Consumption In Mind
Once you tune up your vehicle, the next step to practice more efficient driving habits is to boost your fuel economy. Implementing the following practices will increase your gas mileage on the road:
Avoid Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving includes practices such as excessive speeding, hard braking, and rapid acceleration. These habits lower fuel economy by 10%-40% in stop-and-go traffic and 15%- 30% at highway speeds.
To combat aggressive driving, business owners can implement driver feedback devices. These devices feature small, unobtrusive display panels that keep drivers informed about how safely they are driving. A study found that using these devices can improve gas mileage by up to 10%.
A mileage tracking app with route replay, like Timeero, can also be beneficial. Timeero’s route replay uses breadcrumb technology to help you monitor specific drivers’ behaviors. You can click on a breadcrumb to see the vehicle's speed at any point in time to identify drivers who travel at excessive speeds.
Timeero’s route replay lets you monitor driving behaviors, such as speed of travel and routes taken.
Avoid Excessive Idling
Idling consumes up to half a gallon of fuel per hour, while restarting a vehicle uses 10 seconds worth of fuel. Instead of leaving the vehicle idling when caught in traffic, turn off the engine to save fuel. But keep in mind, experts recommend limiting engine starts to 10 times a day unless the car has an automatic start-stop system.
Use Cruise Control
Rapid acceleration and hard braking surges happen when the driver is unable to maintain consistent speed. Luckily, cruise controls enable drivers to stay within optimal speeds on highways and roads without stop-and-go traffic. One research team found that engaging cruise control reduces fuel usage by 3.3%.
Optimize Your Routes
It goes without saying that the shorter the route, the less fuel the car consumes. Be sure to assess the routes your drivers travel most frequently and choose the shortest one for each destination. You can find the most economical route using Timeero's suggested mileage feature.
The feature analyzes a driver’s past trips and suggests the shortest route to save time and fuel costs. Admins can compare the suggested route to the actual route taken to determine how many miles the driver will save.
Timeero’s suggested mileage feature enables you to create the shortest and most economical routes to save fuel.
However, your proposed routes should be flexible. The shortest route doesn’t always lead to fuel savings— consistent speeds, reduced traffic congestion, and fewer engine starts and stops do. For this reason, use relevant mobile apps to monitor traffic and adjust your routes accordingly to be fuel-friendly.
Avoid Fuel Additives
There’s a common misconception that pouring fuel additives in a tank of gas makes the engine work better, leading to improved fuel economy. Most additives, like octane boosters, don’t necessarily increase the engine’s horsepower or make the car drive faster.
Instead, octane boosters prevent the fuel from igniting prematurely, which is pointless for engines that require regular-point fuel. If your car needs high-end gasoline, adding an octane booster will only deplete your pockets without delivering the intended results.
Create and Enforce Your Company Car Policy
If you’re a business owner, include all these fuel-saving tips in your company car policy. The policy should outline specific obligations and the code of conduct drivers must follow, including speed limits, reporting maintenance needs, and recording accidents.
The policy should also state the consequences and disciplinary actions following vehicle misuse and unsafe driving practices. If drivers are aware of the consequences, they will be less likely to violate the policy.
Beyond that, track drivers’ behavior to know when they violate the rules. Timeero’s route replay feature helps you determine when drivers deviate from the assigned route. Additionally, the app’s breadcrumb technology enables you to determine when a driver engages in unsafe driving practices, such as excessive speeding.
Additional Features of Timeero
In addition to suggested mileage and route replay, Timeero offers other helpful features for businesses that want to lower fuel costs. These features include:
Automatic mileage tracking: Timeero's automatic mileage tracker enables businesses to create IRS-compliant mileage logs for accurate tax write-offs. The app also computes employee reimbursements automatically based on the traveled business miles. This eliminates the tediousness of manual tracking while ensuring you compensate employees fairly. If you need help creating a reimbursement policy, check out our mileage reimbursement policy template to get started.
Segmented tracking: If you have field sales representatives, field technicians, and other employees that make multi-stop trips, we recommend using Timeero’s segmented tracking feature. This tool tracks and segments an employee’s trip based on each stop taken. Segmented tracking helps determine how long the employee spent at each location, which can be helpful for accurate customer billing.
Timeero’s segmented tracking determines the time an employee spends at a specific location.
Commuter mileage: With the commuter mileage feature, simply input an employee’s commute mileage. Timeero will deduct the commute from an employee’s daily mileage, ensuring the mileage logs meet IRS requirements. The feature also prevents you from compensating employees for private mileage — learn more in our commuting mileage reimbursement guide.
Offline mode: Timeero is the best offline GPS mileage tracker, thanks to its robust offline mode. Even when field employees are out of cellular range or run out of data bundles, Timeero continues tracking mileage without a hitch.
Embrace Fuel-Saving Tips To Maximize Profitability
Our tips in this article range from performing regular maintenance on your vehicle to optimizing your driving style to achieve better gas mileage. Each tip improves fuel economy by a small degree (some might be negligible). To reap the maximum benefits, be sure to consistently practice the tips found here and consider adding them to your company car policy to promote employee adherence.
However, you have to implement the right technology to enforce your policy. Use a tool to track and monitor vehicle maintenance schedules and a mileage tracking app like Timeero to stay on top of your team’s driving behaviors.
Additionally, Timeero helps you track mileage to issue fair employee reimbursement and submit accurate tax write-offs. Start a 14-day free trial today to get a first-hand feel for Timeero's capabilities. You can also book a free consultation call with our customer support team to learn how Timeero can be customized to meet your unique business needs.
How To Get Better Gas Mileage: FAQs
How Can I Maximize My Gas Mileage?
To maximize gas mileage, take your vehicle for regular servicing and minimize poor driving habits, such as rapid acceleration and hard braking.
What Makes a Car More Fuel-Efficient?
A well-maintained engine, aligned tires, properly inflated tires, and optimal load make a car more fuel-efficient.
What Driving Habits Should I Change To Improve My Car’s Gas Mileage?
To improve your car’s gas mileage, avoid rapid acceleration, hard braking, speeding, and excessive idling.
What Are the Top Tips for Improving Gas Mileage on the Highway?
The top tips for improving gas mileage on the highway include buying a vehicle with high mpg and using cruise control.
How To Improve Fuel Economy in an Automatic Car
To improve fuel economy in an automatic car, maintain the engine in perfect condition, ensure the tires are well inflated, and avoid poor driving habits.
Track mileage accurately and simplify mileage reimbursement
Capture employees' mileage in real-time and avoid inaccurate reporting
Samson is a mathematician turned content marketer specializing in SaaS and Tech content. He focuses on the practical aspects of software systems while keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge principles to create informative and engaging content. When he’s not writing, Samson spends time playing or watching soccer.
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