If you are a courier driver, probably one of your major business expenses will be the cost of putting fuel in your vehicle. Unfortunately, prices at the fuel pumps have been rising in recent weeks with the situation between Russia and Ukraine not helping. So, is there anything that you can do to help reduce your fuel costs? You will be pleased to read that potentially there are a few things some of which we mention below.

As a general rule, the faster you go the more fuel you use. Therefore, make sure that you try to drive at the optimum speed and that you are in the most suitable gear. You don’t really want to be doing 30mph in second gear!

When you accelerate, don’t put your foot to the floor to try to get from 0 to 60mph in a mere 5 seconds. Take your time and accelerate smoothly.

Be careful how often you use your air conditioning. If the weather is fine then why not consider turning the air conditioning off and opening the window slightly.

You should get your van serviced on a regular basis as not doing so could result in getting fewer miles to the gallon. It is also a sensible idea to check the tyre pressure on a regular basis as under-inflated tyres could lead to getting fewer miles to the gallon.

Plan your drop offs carefully making sure that you are not having to travel 10 miles to get back to the area you dropped off a parcel to drop another one off in the next street.

Don’t drive an over-loaded van – not only is it illegal but it can also result in you using more fuel than you need to. It could also have a negative impact on your van insurance as if you were involved in a road traffic accident and your van was found to be over-weight the insurance company may refuse to meet your claim.

With today’s modern vans, you should be able to monitor the number of miles to the gallon you are getting and then compare the figure after a while whilst you have been driving more economically.