What Are You Going to Do With Your Idle Time and Money?

We have all heard the expression, “Time is money.” This is most definitely true when it comes to your vehicle.  So how can we increase your gas mileage and save money?

Letting your car idle gets you a whopping 0 miles per gallon. That is the ultimate worst score for miles per gallon. Did you hear it? That is the sound of you flushing your money down the toilet for every minute you sit idle in your vehicle somewhere.

The current price for gas is $3.54 per gallon. So let’s say you go through the drive thru for your family supper. You pull up. You order. They get it wrong so you it say it again. Then you wait in line. You finally make the first window to pay. You eventually pull up to the second window and retrieve your family’s sustenance. That probably took you around 15 minutes. Let’s see how this plays out:

My 2006 Chevrolet Suburban gets around 15 mpg so we will use this for the example
If you sat idle for 15 minutes you would use about .67 gallons of gas = $ 2.38
Plus when idling you lose 3% gas mileage = $ .08
So you have now spent an additional $2.46 on gas at the drive thru…that is just sitting in the line and doesn’t factor in the drive to and from.

Let’s say we eat out 4 nights out of 7. That is an additional…are you ready for this? Your family just spent an additional $9.84 for NOTHING. Over a month that is $44.28 per month in wasted gas. Not to mention how hard idling is on your vehicle and let’s not even get into the extra emissions (we’ll save that for another post).

Next time walk , ride your bike, go inside the restaurant or enjoy a family supper at home. Reduce your idle time to increase your gas mileage.