20 Ways to Give Yourself Your Own Gas Tax Holiday

1. Keep your car well-tuned: This could increase your gas mileage by up to 4 percent - based on government studies. Keep good maintenance records.
2. Change the oil in your car: Clean oil reduces the wear on your car caused by friction of the moving parts. Make sure you use the right grade of oil for your vehicle. Keep good maintenance records This will help increase your gas mileage.
3. Replace the air filter in your car: Replacing a clogged air filter could improve your mileage by up to 10% - Savings 10-15c per gallon.
4. Replace the fuel filter in your car: Replace your filter at regular maintenance checkups. The cleaner your fuel, the more efficiently your car will run.
5. Check the alignment of your car: Engine drag will increase the amount of gas used.
6. Rotate your tires: Rotation on a regular basis, prevents uneven wear and will save your tires and reduce your gas costs. Don’t just wait until you align your tires, you may need to rotate your tires more often
7. Replace your tires: Check your tire treads. Balding tires need to be replaced immediately. Better tires give you better gas consumption.
8. Replace your seasonal tires: At the end of winter replace winter tires with summer tires. Bigger snow tires use more gasoline than lighter summer tires.
9. Make sure your tires are properly inflated: Check your tire pressure every month – the best time to do this when your car is cool and your care has been inactive for a few hours. Under-inflated tires reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 2% for each pound that your tires are under-inflated.
10. Make sure you are using the proper tires for your vehicle.
11. Keep your car clean and waxed: This helps reduce drag on your car and decreases your gas consumption.
12. Service your vehicle prior to the season: Winter or summer.
13. Plan your trips to avoid repeating routes.
14. Purchase fuel in the cool of the morning or late evening: Gasoline becomes denser in colder temperatures and gas pumps are set to measure the volume of the fuel that you pump and not the density.
15. Buy gas from a busy station: Stations with slower traffic may have contaminated gas from sitting too long in underground tanks and therefore less powerful gas.
16. Avoid topping off your gas tank: When you purchase only a small amount of gas, at the station the pump doesn’t have enough time to really activate, resulting in short bursts of fuel which may short change the amount of gas that you are purchasing. The best time to fill up your gas tank is when you have half a tank or less left.
17. Avoid running your gas tank close to empty: Keep your gas level above the quarter tank mark if possible. Driving your car when the gas gauge is close to empty, means that you may be pulling sediment from the bottom of the tank into the fuel system, fouling up fuel plugs, carburetors or fuel-injection jets, so you will probably be using more gas because your vehicle is running less efficiently.
18. Avoid buying gas from a just re-filled station: When a gas station’s tank is replenished, sedimentary particles are stirred up in the gas, and could lead to efficiency problems, clogging your fuel filter, possibly causing your car to stall and possibly having difficulty starting.
19. Turn the nozzle: After filling up your gas tank, turn the nozzle of the hose a full 180 degrees, this will drain up to an entire half-cup more gas into your tank, instead of into the tank of the person behind you. As you know, these half-cups add up.
20. Don't buy high octane gas: Buying higher octane gas is a waste of your money for most cars. Regular unleaded has approximately 87 octane already and is fine for your vehicle. Octane is simply a measurement of how difficult it is to ignite the gas in your car and has nothing to do with the quality of the gas. If you are experiencing engine pings, rattles, or knocks you can switch to high octane gas. Note: Some cars like Mercedes Benz require premium fuel so you want to be sure and check your owner's manual before switching.