Changing Your Parking Habits To Improve Gas Mileage

There are so many simple and easy things you can do to improve your gas mileage. One of those simple things is to change your parking habits.

Is this what you do when enter a parking lot? You enter the lot and the first thing you do is head for the parking area nearest to the entrance to the mall or the store where you are going. There are not any spaces available at the entrance because everyone, like you, tries to find the closest spaces.

Now you do one of two things, you either sit and wait for a few minutes to see if anyone will be pulling out of spaces near the entrance, or you drive up and down the closest rows to see if you can find a spot that is still fairly close to the entrance.

These parking behaviors will cost you gas mileage. That also means it will cost you money. When you wait to see if any parking spaces will become available you are sitting and idling your engine. When you idle, you are getting zero miles per gallon. Zero miles per gallon is the worst fuel economy you can get.

When you slowly cruise up and down the parking rows near the entrance you are burning gas. When you are moving slowly you are getting very poor gas mileage. As you slow down and stop at spaces that might open up, or if you stop behind another car that is stopped, now you are idling and getting zero miles per gallon.

Think how much fuel you will burn in a year if you only spend 1 minute a day waiting for a parking space. Assuming 30 days for an average month, to make a simple calculation, and assume you are burning fuel for an extra 60 seconds or one minute each day, then you would be burning fuel for 30 minutes or a half hour each month.

One half hour of burning fuel a month is the equivalent of burning fuel an extra 6 hours per year. Would you ever leave your car sitting and idling for six hours doing nothing but burning fuel? Absolutely not. But in essence you are letting your car sit and idle for 6 hours if your parking habits involve always looking for the closest parking space.

How can you improve gas mileage by changing parking habits? What is the answer to all of this wasted fuel? The answer is very simple and very easy, instead of trying to park close to the entrance, park far away from the store or mall entrance. As you go farther from the entrance there are more and more empty parking spaces. If you go to the rows far from the entrance, immediately upon entering the parking lot,you will find a parking place right away.

By parking far away you save all the fuel you would have wasted waiting for and looking for a parking place close in. There is an another benefit to finding a parking place far from the entrance. Not only will you improve gas mileage and save money but you will get more exercise as you walk the additional distance from your car. It's great for your wallet and great for your body.

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Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider secrets on saving gas and money at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage. Click here for other unique 'improve gas mileage' articles.

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