Best hidden map feature that will save you money on gas
With gas prices soaring, you’ll want to find any savings at the pump. Even a few cents make a difference when you can easily spend nearly $100 to fill up your tank.
Big-box stores such as Sam’s Club and Costco offer fuel services to members. It typically costs less to fill up your car at one of these locations than at a regular gas station. But remember that membership isn’t free. Tap or click here to learn if a big-box membership is worth the reduced gas price.
Planning your routes efficiently will reduce the amount of fuel you burn. It’s not always about the shortest route, however. You also want to avoid traffic, which itself is bad for efficiency. Here’s how to plan ahead.
Stop-and-go is a no-go
Traffic can be stressful on your psyche, but it isn’t great for fuel economy either. Every time you hit the brakes, you’ll need to use more engine power to get the car moving again. This burns fuel and reduces your miles per gallon.
Driving in traffic also means more idle time (a true waste of fuel) and more significant wear on your brakes and engine components.
You want to plan your trip to avoid traffic as much as possible. It’s easy to open your navigation app and see the current traffic, but what if you want to see the expected traffic conditions next week?
Whether you use Apple Maps or Google Maps, you can get a pretty accurate traffic forecast for a future date based on what the conditions usually are like on that day and time. You can fine-tune your departure time to find the ideal time to hit the road.
Predict your trip with Apple Maps
Apple Maps can help you with detailed directions for the moment or a time in the future. You can set a time that you want to leave or an arrival time based on road and traffic conditions.
Let’s start with setting a departure time:
- Open the Maps app and tap on the Search Maps field.
- Type your destination and select it from the results.
- Tap Directions, then tap Leaving Now.
- Tap Leave at, select a date and time and then tap Done.
- You can see the traffic as well as the distance and time for your trip.
- Tap Go next to your desired route.
You can set your desired arrival time and the app will let you know when you should leave:
- Open the Maps app and tap on the Search Maps field.
- Type your destination and select it from the results.
- Tap Directions and then tap Leaving Now.
- Tap Arrive by, select a date and time and then tap Done.
- You can see the traffic, distance and time for your trip as well as a Leave by time.
- Tap Go next to your desired route.
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Use Google Maps to plan ahead
Google Maps can help you plan a future trip, taking in predicted traffic, routes and road conditions along the way.
Here’s how to set a planned time and date for a trip:
- Open Google Maps and tap on the Search here field.
- Enter a destination and select it from the results.
- Tap Directions and then tap the three dots button to the right of the Your location field.
- Tap Set depart or arrive time.
- Select Depart at and enter a date and time then tap Done.
- You’ll get various route options along with details such as time and distance.
- Select a route and tap Start.
Want to know when you should leave to arrive at a location at a specific time? You can do that too:
- Open Google Maps and tap on the Search here field.
- Enter a destination and select it from the results.
- Tap Directions and then tap the three dots button to the right of the Your location field.
- Tap Set depart or arrive time.
- Select Arrive by at and enter a date and time then tap Done.
- You’ll get various route options along with details such as distance and a recommended time to leave.
- Select a route and tap Start.
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Tags: Apple, Apple Maps, Costco, gas prices, Google, Google Maps, membership, navigation app, routes, savings, traffic, traffic forecast
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