How to: Save on fuel costs

Tired of seeing the high cost of gas eat away at your bottom line? While you can never escape fuel costs entirely, there are things you can do to save money. Cut your fuel costs with these suggestions from small business expert Susan Ward.
 

1. Ensure that all your vehicles are properly maintained.

Underinflated tires, dirty oil, clogged air filters and poorly tuned engines all increase your fuel costs. By keeping your vehicle(s) well maintained, you can cut your fuel consumption by up to 10 percent according to Transport Canada.
 

2. Consolidate your trips.

Instead of making three separate trips throughout the day, turn it into one trip and get it all done. Consolidating your trips takes a little planning, but is an easy way to cut fuel costs. And even businesses that make deliveries can cut fuel costs by consolidating “groups” of deliveries or by strategies such as delivering only in certain areas on certain days.
 

3. Train all your drivers not to idle.

When you let your engine idle, all you’re doing is unnecessarily increasing your fuel costs. Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up a vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to warm up your vehicle is to drive it. Nor is idling “better” than frequently turning off and restarting your vehicle’s engine. If you are going to be parked for more than 10 seconds, turn off the engine. Ten seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it, according to Natural Resources Canada.
 

4. Use a block heater on cold winter days.

We all know that using a block heater when it’s cold out makes it easier to start your vehicle’s engine. But did you know that “at –4°F, block heaters can improve overall fuel economy by as much as 10 percent. For a single short trip on a cold day, fuel savings could be in the order of 20 percent? (Natural Resources Canada).
 

5. Decrease your free delivery area.

Instead of offering free delivery within a 100-mile area, for instance, you might only offer free delivery within a 50-mile area. Make sure to charge the appropriate delivery fee that covers the additional cost of fuel.
 

6. Look for the “E-10 blend” of gas.

“E-10 Blend” is a fuel blend of gasoline and up to 10 percent ethanol that can be used in virtually any gasoline-powered vehicle manufactured after 1980. In other words, if you can find it, you can use it without any modification to your vehicle, saving money on gas in the process.

There are also flexible fuel vehicles available that run on gasoline or on blends of up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Because of the high alcohol content of E-85, vehicles have to be especially modified to handle the fuel blend. However, there are many E-85 vehicle models available, such as the Chevrolet Avalanche, Suburban, Tahoe and some pickup trucks, and the Ford Explorer and Taurus.

As ethanol is not sold everywhere, this way of saving money on gas isn’t available to everyone.

Susan Ward runs an IT consulting company and writes about small business for About.com. For more of Susan’s tips, follow her on Twitter at @SmallBizCanada or visit sbinfocanada.about.com.