Fuel Efficiency should be your top priority for your next car purchase

I don’t know when will people realize that oil is in an ever declining supply, and as a result, gas prices will only go up. So why do we have to wait for a hurricane, middle east unrest or other unforeseen events to make us realize that gas is too expensive and we just can’t afford it anymore?

It is time you did! I am telling you now, the general future trend for gas prices is to keep going up. Until a substitute becomes available and in mass production, but that day is at least a decade or more away.

Having said that, ‘fuel efficiency’ should be your top priority when making your next car purchase decision. In fact, I will go as a far as recommending that you replace your car with a more fuel efficient one, if your current one is breaking your budget.  In other words, you may need to act now.

Think about it. The difference between how much gas a car consumes compared to another could be in the hundreds of dollars monthly. If that is not enough incentive for you to look for a fuel efficient car, I don’t know what is?

Once you have made up your mind that you need to get or replace your car with a more fuel efficient one, it is time to do a thorough research on what is available. Settle on three cars and then compare their fuel efficiency as well as other features. For each car, try to find at least three drivers that drive the same car and ask them about fuel efficiency and take an average. Or you can use a community website like http://www.fuelly.com to get more input from hundreds of drivers about a specific car fuel efficiency.

Just before you make your purchase, be sure to check your insurance rate for the new car. You don’t want to find out after you bought the car that you will be paying a lot more on the new car, which could make your saving on fuel pointless.

If you can afford them, and if you plan to keep the car for years and make good use of it, then consider a diesel or even a hybrid option.

Enough worrying about how many cup holders your future car holds or how shiny the rims look. While it doesn’t hurt to have these options, they should take a back seat to that of how fuel efficient your new car will be.