When I was a kid I never kept concentration, nor learned, nor was given any teaching about finances, technical or mechanical or monetary or other duties, thus the thought of keeping a tab on one's car's gas mileage never crossed my mind. It was only recently that I took the time to learn and paid attention to, how to record my car's gas mileage and also learned- HOW it would be beneficial.

My new tutor was my friend, a retired grocery store clerk. I would accompany him on his Saturday errands. One of which would be filling his van's gas tank. You can find other automotive related material at http://www.hubcapreport.com. His activity once a week would be to go to the gas station, fill up his tank, and then write down the car's mileage and amount of gas he had just put in, all this on a small hand-size spiral notebook which kept in the van's glove box.

My friend was a great guy, but at the same time, a mastermind by anyone's standards. He was always up to some calculations or the other. Looking for his pen in his nerdy pocket protectors to scribble something down- an innovation or scientific idea or history-based. So I thought that he used to note down the car's gas mileage just to keep appease his character or to ease the mental demons that he possessed

Before I had purchased a used car for myself I had got into gear to carry out research of various aspects of a car like that emissions standards ratings, a car's reputation for deterioration and then finally to a car's emission. That is when it struck me that my friend did not record his car's gas mileage to feed his mental hunger but to actually to pay attention to his car's gas mileage.

I had initial dreams of buying a truck, or a hot rod or even a sports car, but finally bought a car that I LOVE, a used Saab. I then immediately drove it to the gas station as I remembered that the person who I had bought the car from told me that it needed gas.

After I finished filling the gas in the tank, I noted down the date, the mileage and the amount of gas put in. I carry out the same activity every time I fill gas and thus am able to keep a tab on my car's gas mileage. The information of car mileages for Saabs and any array of other cars is available on sites like http://epa.gov, which people could check before then go in for a new or used car.

The gas prices at the time when I am writing this article, i.e. April 2006 are 25 cents higher that the prices at the same time last year. Thus the prices could range from $2.60 to about $2.62 a gallon. Now I realize the reasoning of recording one's gas milage.