Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Mike Waters' blog: 3 July 2013 - A high price for a heavy foot
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Mike Waters' blog: 3 July 2013 - A high price for a heavy foot

Date: 03 July 2013

Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at leasing and fleet management company Arval

Wasting money isn't something that anyone wants to do, but let me throw a stat at you: driving at 85 mph rather than 70mph uses around 25% more fuel.

Now apart from the fact that no-one should be driving over 70mph in the UK, it reinforces that when it comes to driving, speed costs money.

The faster you drive, the more fuel you will use. And it's worth knowing that your speed isn't the only thing you can change to make your fuel go further.

Revving the engine, harsh acceleration and braking, or hanging onto the gears all waste fuel.

Every time I refuel it costs between £70 and £80, and I do so at least every couple of weeks.

The last thing that I want to do is increase this cost but I acknowledge that it's easy to forget about when you are driving.

At the pump, it's tangibly clear that you are spending money as the price dial ticks around at alarming speed. When you're driving, it's not necessarily front of mind.

Many drivers I speak to are also resigned to the fact that there's nothing they can do about it - a view that simply isn't true.

Small changes to behaviour will have an impact on your life. A reduction in speed of 10mph will only cost you a few minutes in time but it could save you a lot of money.

By the same token, accelerating sharply and braking hard rarely gets you from A to B any quicker but it undoubtedly uses more fuel.

We are lucky in that the market is delivering a choice of really efficient vehicles offering CO2 emissions and mpg performance that a few years ago we could only have dreamed of.

However, this is immaterial if you don't drive sympathetically. Many of us moan about the price of fuel, and rightly so based on recent history.

But if you don't play your part to reduce your ongoing fuel costs, you really only have yourself to blame. 



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