Buy regular instead of high-test gas.  If you think using high-test or premium gas is better for your car, you might be right.  On the other hand, unless the owner’s manual for your car specifies that you must use high-test gas, you are getting ripped off.  The octane rating for gasoline only indicates how resistant it is to knock or ping.  It has nothing to do with mileage, engine wear or other performance.

The majority of car engines these days are designed to run on regular gas. Higher-performance cars often require midgrade or premium gas because their engines are designed for higher compression (higher compression = more power), and regular gas may cause knock.  Using high-octane gas in a car designed for regular accomplishes little except faster combustion of your cash.

Understanding this, the first step to avoiding the payment of an extra $0.20 per gallon or more at the pump is to buy a car that doesn’t require premium gasoline.  We recommend checking out Consumer Reports.  The average car is driven 15,000 miles per year.  If your fuel consumption is 18 miles per gallon, that’s 833 gallons of gasoline per year.  The savings could easily be $166 per year.  Buy a car that uses regular gas and gets good gas mileage and you can smile while you drive by the gas station.  The AAA reported in 2005 that the cost of driving a car before the recent huge gas price increases averaged 56 cents per mile and ranged from 42 to 77 cents ($5,000 to $11,000 per year).  Cars are expensive but you do not have to blindly end up paying more than you really want.

Here are 35 more great ways to save money.