Putting brake on soaring costs

Jun 4 2008 By Andrew Mernin

Top tips for any driver to save fuel costs

1 Stick to speed limits - driving at 70mph instead of 60mph can drink up to 9% more fuel, and 15% more than when driving at 50mph.

(http://www.dft.gov.uk/actonco2)

2 Plan your journey more efficiently through fuel cards and tracking devices.

3 Don't rev too high. Change up between 2,000rpm and 2,500rmp.

4 Remove any unnecessary add-ons - eg roof racks to reduce drag.

5 Maker regular safety checks - eg under-inflated tyres can increase fuel consumption.

6 Idle engines less - drive away immediately, as idling wastes fuel. Also, avoid short journeys as cold engines use more fuel.

7 Drive safer. Don't brake or accelerate sharply.

8 Save fuel costs by using the air conditioning more sparingly.

How Northgate helps save fuel

1 Vehicle monitoring - tracking vehicles, identifying how much mileage, how much downtime for each vehicle - enables fleet managers to plan journeys more efficiently. Many Northgate customers have saved up to 20% of their fuel bills by highlighting inefficiencies within their fleets.

2 Driver training - Northgate promote driver-training schemes.

3 Fuel cards - these greatly help to monitor how much fuel each vehicle is consuming, again another way to track fuel expenditure.

4 Flexible rental product NORFLEXâ - drive the newest and fuel-efficient vehicles, with regular servicing and maintenance checks.