How you can save money at the gas pump

If filling up your gas tank is taking a toll on your wallet, here are some tips that can give you some relief.

The cost of fuel continues to rise and has almost reached the $4 mark.

While you can't control the price of gas, there are some steps you can take to control how much gas you use.

The Car Care Council offers some inexpensive vehicle maintenance advice that can help alleviate the pain of high gas prices:

• Keep your car properly tuned to improve gas mileage by an average of 4 percent.
• Keep tires properly inflated and improve gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent.
• Replace dirty or clogged air filters and improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent.
• Improve gas mileage by 1-2 percent by using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil.

Driving behavior also impacts fuel efficiency. The council offers these gas saving driving tips:

• Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly above 50 mph. Each 5 mph over 50 mph is like paying an additional $0.25 per gallon for gas, according to www.fueleconomy.gov.
• Avoid excessive idling. Idling gets zero miles per gallon. Warming up the vehicle for one or two minutes is sufficient.
• Avoid quick starts and stops. Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent in the city.
• Consolidate trips. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much gas as one longer multi-purpose trip.
• Don't haul unneeded items in the trunk. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk reduces fuel economy up to 2 percent.

The Car Care Council is the source of information for the "Be Car Care Aware".  It's a consumer education campaign promoting the benefits of regular vehicle care, maintenance and repair to consumers. For more information, you can visit their website at www.carcare.org.