Any cheap gas life hacks?

[pyramidhead]

@vinter Yes, and it also varies from cantons

 

[leong]

@rengb121 Get an electric car. I paid 850.- for electricity and charging station last year

 

[vinter]

@rengb121 The TCS list seems often very outdated. Is it really useful for you? In my experience it’s always the same stations which have the best prices.

In case you have the TCS credit card you also get discount at BP, Tamoil, Ruedi Rüssel and Miniprix. I don’t recommend the credit card though as it is with Cembra.

For Coop you can always get 0.05 off. Just Google it in case the link below doesn’t work anymore.

https://bon.coop-pronto.ch/de/start/bon

 

[heavensvoice]

@rengb121 Just always fill up for 20 francs.

 

[eric60]

@rengb121 I use public transport, and when the weather permits it I cycle, a lot of money stays in my pocket.

This is the thing: you put research time, effort, writing posts, checking where to go to get cheaper gas to save max 2fr...

1) Imagine you spend 3 hours in the above plus 25 hours in psychological time, meaning you are always thinking about some solution to this so call problem, Is that worth it?

2) Imagine you are working, your boss tells you to stay 1 more hour for 3fr, Will you do it?

Then you go for a drink and you get one more beer, which is 8 or 10fr, the same with eating out, you pick one started for just 11fr........Do you get it?

 

[pedroespi]

@rengb121 It really depends how much further you have to go to buy fuel?

If your car has a 60 litre tank, you'll save 60 rp for every rappen/litre discount if you brim the tank from practically empty.

Assuming 6l/100km, and about 1.80/litre fuel cost, your 60rp saving will go about 5km further, or 2.5km each way to get to the discount. Thus, you have to travel less than 2.5km further than your closest station per rappen discount to get any savings.

For example, let's consider if your closest fuel is 1.80/litre but, if you drive 5km further, it's 1.78/litre. Effectively there is no difference financially, since you burn additional fuel equivalent to the savings to travel the extra 10km to reach the discounted source.

You can do the math, but as a rule of thumb, you have to go less than 5km further to save with a discount of 2 rappen/litre.

Obviously different cars/fuels have different efficiencies, as does different driving styles/routes. But as your litres/100km goes up, the distance you can go to justify savings goes down.

 

[snowden713]

@rengb121 Why is no one mentioning the actual conservative/resource saving/economical driving styles? I mean absolutely no idling (longer than 4 seconds, because that’s how much gas the engine uses to start..), enough distance to the traffic in front so you don’t have to stop-and-go so often (use the motor brake, this also saves you brake pads & discs!) using cruise control for maintaining your speed efficiently (yes, also when driving in the city) and most importantly: reducing your speed. Since above 50km/h wind resistance is the main energy consuming factor and since speed/resistance calculations are always exponential, the savings are immense. 120km/h vs 110 km/h easy makes 0.5L/100km difference.

I have to drive about 100km (one way) on A6/A1 for work twice a week, usually i put myself behind a lorry doing ~90km/h. Yes it takes 15min longer. Wow. But on the other hand i experience absolutely none of the whole A1-stress, and my not-so-eco 20 year old car does this with 4.5L/100km.
So yes, it‘s not „fun driving“ and uses more time, but savings are immense.

Oh and also: oftentimes country roads are more economical, because of the reduced average speed, who would have thought. But also because they are more direct. Less km driven = less fuel used. Of course, you have to plan the journey accordingly, because it takes a bit longer. Sometimes it‘s worth it, because you get to see very, very nice places!

(Edit: grammar)

 

[fitforchrist]

@rengb121 Switch to an electric bicycle.

What? Don't boo me! That's what I'm doing myself!

 

[jdawg37659]

@rengb121 Live in Geneva or Basel and fill up in France ;-)

 

[tommyghann]

@rengb121 Drive conservative and/or in eco mode, get as smaller/EV car, use public transport. Saving at the gas station is ridiculous.

 

[resjudicata]

@rengb121 My strategy to save on gas was to sell my car and switch to bike + public transit

 

[askbig]

@rengb121 Unless you drive 2500+ kms a month, the potential savings are not worth the hassle. The main thing to avoid is to systematically refuel at gas stations on the highway.

If you really want to save a few cents, download the Migrol app and get a Cumulus card. You get a 5 cts/l discount barcode almost every month and you can reuse it as much as you want during the month. Just make sure to refuel at a Migrol gas station.

 

[rodron]

@rengb121 Switch to an electric car.

 

[orobos76]

@rengb121 Best tip is to walk, you'll generate less carbon that way

 

[ashrei19]

@orobos76 This is a personal finance sub so not sure you’ll get a lot of interest for carbon emissions. But you’re accidentally right though: not owning a car is the top financial advice in Switzerland.

 

[benaiah2015]

@ashrei19 Great to see that personal wellbeing now is more important than general wellbeing in the future.

Isn't personal finance about planning for the future ? In that case, you can't separate carbon emissions from finance, unless you wan't to be irrelevant in a decade.

 

[ashrei19]

@benaiah2015 Hey I care. I just came to accept that most people don’t.