1. Never (fill up) on a Sunday. Or a Friday or Saturday, for that matter. Gas prices typically rise over the weekend; most station owners post the new prices Thursday mornings by 10 a.m. To find the best price near you no matter what day it is, download the free GasBuddy app to your Android phone or iPhone and search by proximity or lowest price. 2. Take a tip from hypermilers. Among their strategies: Inflate your tires to the maximum pressure recommended by the tire manufacturer. Baby your brakes — coast whenever possible, and conserve momentum in stop-and-go traffic. If you’re sitting in traffic, turn your engine off. Ditch the junk in your trunk; every 100 pounds reduces your mileage by 2 percent. To reduce drag, keep windows and sunroofs closed at highway speeds and get rid of the roof rack.
3. Don’t spin your wheels. Map out your route ahead of time. Traffic.com has live traffic maps that let you check the roads you’ll take, or you can enter your destination and ask for the best route to take. On the go? The free Google Maps app for Androids and iPhones displays area roads in red, yellow or green, depending on how congested they are. If you use the navigation feature, the app will automatically direct you around traffic.
4. Get E-ZPass. Cruise through the tollbooth instead of idling in long lines. The pass is good from Maine to Virginia and as far west as Illinois. The required minimum balance varies from state to state; some states levy monthly fees, and a few, such as New Jersey and New York, offer commuter discounts. You’re not required to buy your pass from your home state, so check surrounding states’ websites to see which has the cheapest plan for you (for links to each state’s program, go to ezpass.com/static/info/facilities.shtml).
5. Use a gas cash-back credit card. Earn up to a 5 percent rebate when you use a branded credit card, such as the BP Visa Card. The BP card doubles your rebate for the first 60 days, and offers 2 percent cash back on travel and restaurant purchases and 1 percent on most other purchases.
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