How will simply owning a GPS help you save gas? Here are the ways:

1. Make sure your preferences are set to find the quickest route.

Many people think that having their GPS set to shortest route will help them save the most on gas. This is not necessarily the case. Often times the shortest route is one that travels through many side streets that include stop signs or long traffic lights (because they intersect with a busy thoroughfare). This means that you lose fuel efficiency speeding up and slowing down for the stops and burn fuel waiting for you light to turn green.

The quickest routes generally have the highest speeds and are generally driver friendly since they are the main arteries for traffic. You make less stops and travel at higher speeds, both of which can improve your miles per gallon.

You might want to test out both solutions for frequently traveled routes in case traffic congestion during rush hour really lends itself better to the shorter route.

2. Use your GPS features, especially way points.

Way points can be called different things on different refurbished GPS models. Sometimes they are called favorites and at other times they are called locations, but no matter what they are called you should use them and here is why: it will open up new, fuel-efficient routes to you.

Imagine being at your favorite shop running errands and you have most of the places that you run errands to in your GPS as way points. You are at the cleaners now, but need to get across town to the dentist. You will have a route that you normally go to get there, but with your device set to quickest route you may find that the route you normally took was terribly inefficient.

Your GPS will have saved you gas on this discovery.

3. Try out new routes.

Commuters who use highways should definitely think about this tip.

This is because most people experience some bottlenecking on the freeway. This is caused for many different reasons - too many people getting on the freeway at once, a merging of two highways, or a particularly accident prone section of highway. The reason is not really relevant, but this is: these bottlenecks cost you money (in the form of gas).

You can prevent this by using way points (I hope you are getting the idea to use way points!). Simply set a way point for the entrance ramp after things tend to clear up and then when you exit the freeway because you see traffic ahead you make a new destination be the on-ramp to the free way after the bottleneck clears.

It may not save you gas every time, but it could be better than sitting in traffic all afternoon.