Martin Lewis has urged motorists to follow a key driving rule to cut diesel costs as prices continue to soar. His advice comes as the average price of a litre of diesel in the UK has hit an all-time high of 199.18p, according to RAC figures.
Action you should take
Previously, speaking on The Martin Lewis Money Show, Martin said: "Now these seem small, but have a bigger impact than you think. You should try and look to make your car as efficient as possible."
He highlighted several simple changes, including removing an empty roof rack and clearing out heavy items from the boot. He said: "Here is our car that has a few problems. First of all, it's got a roof rack on. If that's empty, get rid of it. Really inefficient."
He continued: "You're having to push that through the wind on a motorway as you drive. Junk in your trunk - you want to get rid of junk in your trunk. Extra weight. For every about 45kg, it makes your car 1% less fuel efficient. So we get anything out of the boot we're not using in heavy weight."
A key rule to follow
Martin also turned his attention to tyres and air conditioning. He said: "Look at those tyres, not pumped up. That can add 3% or 4% to your fuel bills when it's not more efficient, so get your tyres checked and pumped up properly."
He added: "When you're going at low speeds, your air con can be really quite expensive proportionately and make the car much less fuel efficient. At high speeds, if it's warm, keep it on, because opening your windows on a motorway will really add drag and make the car have to work much harder to go further."
Martin also noted that driving style matters, saying that good road positioning, keeping a safe distance from the car in front and thinking ahead enables you to "speed up more slowly, and slow down more gradually". He said this is "massively more fuel efficient" and highlighted that making simple changes can help people cut between 10% and 30% off their diesel or petrol bills.
Why are prices rising?
This week it was confirmed the average price of a litre of diesel in the UK has hit an all-time high of 199.18p, according to RAC figures. This is 56.8p more expensive than at the start of the US-Iran war on February 28 this year, when a litre averaged 142.38p. The previous record high was 199.09p, reached in June 2022.
The cost of diesel has risen steadily in recent weeks due to disruptions to global supplies from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and renewed hostilities in the Middle East.
