High gas prices have hit most of our budgets in the Denver area.  If increased fuel costs are consuming a bigger portion of your budget, you may be tempted to skimp in some other areas – like scheduled maintenance at Express Car Care in Denver.

According to news reports and industry studies, you’re not alone.  Nine out of ten personal vehicles on the road have at least one maintenance or repair item that hasn’t been done.  Some of these items are serious safety concerns, others are just more likely to affect the cost of operating your vehicle.

In this area, we can take a lesson from professional vehicle owners:  fleet owners and operators like trucking companies and delivery services.  Because their livelihood depends on it, they have gotten scheduled maintenance down to a science, and the last thing they skimp on is regular maintenance.

Why is that?  Well, for one thing they know that routine maintenance prevents expensive repairs and costly breakdowns.  They also know that a well-maintained vehicle uses less fuel.  For them, even a small decrease in fuel economy may mean not being profitable.

Here are some Express Car Care services that could potentially save you some gas in Denver:  Fuel system cleaning, transmission service, differential service, oil change, tune-up.

Ring any bells?  Is there at least one thing on the list that hasn’t been done for your vehicle?  Let’s suppose you chose to spend a hundred and fifty dollars and get caught up on some of these services and that they combine to improve your fuel economy by fifteen percent.  What would that mean to your pocketbook?  Well, the average personal vehicle is driven about 12,000 miles a year.  If you get 20 miles per gallon of gas, over the course of one year you would pay for the hundred and fifty dollars’ worth of service and save an additional $165,  if gas is at $3.50 a gallon.  If gas is $4.50, you would save $255 and you’d rack up $345  with gas at $5.50.

From this you can see that the more fuel costs, the more it pays to take care of your vehicle.  Some of us drive trucks for work or recreation – or want a large SUV for family needs.  A fifteen percent improvement in fuel economy can generate huge savings – $660 a year if gas is $4.50 a gallon.  Take a look at this table to see where you could save.

Gas Price       $3.50           $4.50        $5.50

10 MPG              480                660             840

20 MPG             165                255              345

30 MPG              60                  120              180

So catch up on those services you’ve been neglecting.  Talk with your Express Car Care adviser about your vehicles needs.  Get a couple down now and a couple next time.  Chances are you’ll save a lot of money on fuel this year – and a lot more on repairs in the years to come.