Drivers are in the habit of warming their vehicle up in winter temperatures. Drivers seem to be under the mistaken idea that they need to warm up their car for it to operate properly. By warming up they mean idling the car for a considerable amount of time before driving. This misnomer is costing you money.

Many car owners idle their car for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes in cold weather to let their cars warm up. You need no more than 30 seconds of idling to get your oil circulating before you can drive away. Do not let your car idle for more than 30 seconds.

When you idle your car you are burning gas but not going anywhere. When that happens it means you are getting zero miles per gallon. You might think that idling your vehicle for just a few minutes or so is no big deal, but you are wrong.

To illustrate how much fuel is being burned by letting your car idle for 5 to 10 minutes consider this. Let's assume you idle your car on the short side, only about 5 minutes to warm it in the morning. The likely scenario is that you idle your car for 5 minutes again, before you drive home.

That means your car is idling for 10 minutes per day. If winter is considered to be November, December, January and February, then winter is 120 days long. If you idle your vehicle for 10 minutes each day for 120 days then you are idling for 1200 minutes during the winter season.

1200 Minutes is equivalent to 20 hours. Idling your car for only 5 minutes per start amounts to letting your car sit and burn gas going nowhere, for 20 hours. Can you imagine letting you car sit and idle for 20 hours? Of course not. Then why idle for the equivalent of 20 hours of burning gas if you don't have to?

Warm your car up by driving it. To operate efficiently your car needs to warm up other parts in addition to the engine. Tires, transmission, wheel bearings and other moving parts also need to warm up. Your car's catalytic converter doesn't function at its peak until it reaches between 400C and 800C. The only way these other parts warm up is by driving. The reality is, to warm your car up completely you have to drive it anyway.

One of the easiest things you can do to prevent the loss of fuel economy in the winter is letting your car warm up efficiently. Warm it by driving it not by idling it. Changing the way you warm your car is also good for the environment. You end up burning less fuel which slows down burning a hole in the ozone and stops the burning of that hole in your pocket.