World record holding hyper-miler Kevin Booker says he saved himself £30 to £40 a month on petrol — and that's before prices of fuel went through the roof. With rising living costs also bearing down on us, many are trying to be more economical over our spending and fuel use at the moment.
From the cost of a meal at the local chip shop to horrendous rises to our home energy bills, paying for bills and food feels like it has never been more difficult. But, one small way to help could be the simple things you can do to make sure you hold onto your fuel for longer without having to leave your car in the drive.
Kevin Booker, from Swansea, has come up with a sure-fire way to save himself money on fuel, and on top of saving money, he's even managed to achieve three Guinness World Records. Known as a 'hypermiler', it began as a way for the 43-year-old to try and save himself cash while travelling on a 70-mile round trip every day to and from work in Brecon.
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He experimented with alterations to the way he drove to see if he could save himself money on his fuel bill each week, and through a series of simple techniques - he managed to save himself £30 to £40 a month. Mr Booker recommends the following techniques that maximise fuel efficiency and will help you save every drop of petrol.
- Remove any excess weight from the car you don't need
- Always ensure your tyres are correctly inflated
- Read the road ahead and try not to come to a complete stop (unless you have to)
- Avoid harsh acceleration - Drive gently and don't drive in an erratic manner
- Try and avoid harsh braking
- Read the road ahead to try to avoid stopping and starting where possible and rolling up slowly instead (eg at roundabouts or traffic lights — try to judge the lights so you don't end up coming to a stop for a traffic light just for it to go green)
- Drive with your windows up to reduce the drag on the car
- Switch air conditioning off
- Drive slower — by driving fractionally slower your overall journey time is about the same, but you'll save a significant amount of fuel
- Keep your car well-maintained — tyre pressure and oil levels can influence efficiency
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Picking the times of day when you travel to avoid congestion if you can
Explaining how it all started, Mr Booker said: "I was driving from Swansea to Brecon each day and that's a 70-mile round trip. Doing that all the time I kind of started seeing how I could get the most miles per gallon out of my car, mainly just to see how it affected my journey time and to make it a more interesting drive. When you do the same route for 10 or 13 years you do tend to make it a bit more interesting.
"It was about reading the road ahead and stuff and making sure you don't stop at roundabouts - judging traffic lights as well so you don't end up coming to a stop for a traffic light just for it to go green. It's more kind of rolling up to it and keeping some speed there but not actually coming to a complete stop.
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