Money Saving Tip: Save Money on Gas by Maintaining Your Tires

Yes, another "saving on gas" piece. But this one has a bit of a different focus. It's more related to your vehicle's tires and how keeping them properly maintained can both save you money on gas as well as improve your auto's safety.

Here's a piece from MSNBC that offers tips on saving on gas by maintaining your tires. It's rather long, but, thankfully, the summary is to the point:

“It’s really all about maintaining air pressure — that’s how you get the best wear, fuel economy and performance out of your tires,” Edmonds said.

I'm right in the middle of searching for an air compressor for this very reason. How much can be saved? A decent amount:

Some 3.56 million gallons of gas are wasted each day because of incorrectly-inflated tires according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure the DOE estimates. For every pound per square inch that all four of a vehicle’s tires are under-inflated, a driver’s gas mileage is lowered by 0.4 percent the DOE says.

We spend about $800 a year on gas. Saving 3.3% is about $26. Not a fortune, but there is another reason to maintain proper inflation: safety. Consider these facts:

About one in every three cars has a significantly under inflated tire, and 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries occur every year as a result of low tire pressure-related crashes according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). At the same time, the AAA says it receives about 4 million roadside assistance calls each year due to tire-related incidents.

Granted, a lot of those 4 million calls aren't under inflation issues (they are probably flat tires -- caused by something else), but checking both your tire pressure and wear is something you should do regularly. Consider this post as your friendly reminder to begin doing this -- and start saving money and improving your car's safety.

For an interesting discussion on the air compressor issue, see my post titled Money Saving Tips: The Best Ways to Save on Cars (Buy an Air Compressor). Be sure to look over the comments -- there's some good stuff there.

Comments

[annab]

one thing I do is to keep my own tire gauge in the glove compartment. A lot of places have air but the gauges are fiddly or beat-up (if you can even get one.) I have one with a big dial and red pointer, easy to use and read. I check the tires whenever I fill up the tank.

[CraigM]

Instead of an air compressor, you can also use one of those step bike pumps. Sure, it's not as sexy as a 2.5HP air compressor, but unless you have another pressing need for an air compressor, this could be another way to save money.