This is a guest blog post by bargain hubby.

Keeping your tires inflated saves you money – and you don’t even have to pay for the air! For every 3 PSI your car tires are low, you burn 1 percent more fuel and add 10 percent more wear to your tires, claims an article at Edmunds.com! The article also includes instructions and a video on how to pump up your car tires.

This doesn’t just apply to your car. Yesterday I was biking (in a hurry of course) and realized my tires were way too flat. The flat tires were slowing me down and tiring me out. I decided to pull into a gas station and pump up my tires, begrudgingly willing to spend seventy five cents to do it.

I lucked out. There was someone topping off the air in his car. It was clear he does this frequently as he jumped quickly from tire to tire with his digital air gauge. He finished well before the timer ran out and handed the hose to me to work on my tires.

“You know, they’ll often turn if on for free if you go ask, ” he told me. After I’d finished with my tires, I thanked him again for sharing his air. That’s when he said, “They have to provide the air for free to customers. You could go in and [lie to] tell them you got gas. But stealing air just doesn’t seem right.”

I biked off to my appointment, and arrived on time. The time spent adding the air was offset by my increased speed going up the mile long hill to my destination.

Later I checked his facts. AB-531 was passed in California in 1999, which requires that gas stations must provide the air and water machines free to customers. Since they can still charge “non-customers”, they’re unlikely to tell you that you have free access. This is one time it pays to ask!

Tagged: on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 · 3 Comments »