Most drivers can use a few tactics to reduce their fuel costs without switching to a more efficient vehicle, and there are free tools available on smartphones that help. They’ll help you save money without driving less or switching cars.

Fuelly

Before you can seriously approach saving money and obtaining better gas mileage, you need to know your current fuel economy. Although many modern vehicles have built-in fuel economy gauges, they are not always accurate. The most precise way to track your economy is via your fuel receipts.

Fuelly can help you with this. Simply input the gallons you put into your car, the price, the mileage since your last fill-up, and Fuelly will calculate your economy and the money you spent on gas. Now that you have this information, you can see how well your efforts to improve your mileage are working. Your information is shared with others using the service, creating a catalog of vehicles. This is also handy, because it provides a reference against which you can compare your car and your driving habits.

Fuelly is a website, and available on any device with Internet access. It’s also possible to add fuel-up data via SMS.

Garmin Mechanic [Android 2.1+]

Although two vehicles may be the same, their gas mileage may vary wildly. The driver behind the wheel is a massive variable. While some drivers are soft and easy with the gas pedal, others scream about as if a velociraptor is sitting in the passenger seat.

Each of these approaches to driving, and everything between, will give different fuel economy results. Garmin Mechanic can help you investigate your own tendencies by monitoring your speed (via GPS) as well as your acceleration and braking. You can then examine the results to see if you could have been driving a bit slower, or you could have been easier on gas pedal. You’ll also have access to a real-time fuel economy monitor.

All of these functions are enhanced by using the Garmin ecoRoute HD adapter. Using this, it’s possible to plug your car directly into your phone, resulting in precise data rather than guesses based off your phone’s sensors. You’ll also gain access to the app’s engine diagnostics section. However, the adapter is almost $100, so not everyone may find it worthwhile.

The app is free and available for Android 2.1 and up.

BestRoute / Route4Me [Android 2.0 + iOS]

One of the best ways to save fuel is to drive less, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go where you want. By better planning your routes, you can make the same stops but drive fewer miles, which should save you money at the pump.

BestRoute for Android 2.0 and better, as well as Route4Me for iOS, can accomplish this. These apps allow users to input an address and then “optimize” them, resulting in a route that is as short as possible.

Both apps can be obtained for free, but Route4Me requires an in-app purchase of a “100 address pack” for $4.99. BestRoute is ad-supported and limited to 10-stop routes. An ad-free version is available for a buck, and a Pro version with support for routes with up to 50 stops is $4.99.

Conclusion

How do you save money and obtain better gas mileage with your smartphone? Do you use a favorite navigation app to find better routes, or do you use an app that encourages more efficient driving? As always, readers are encouraged to let us know in the comments! I also recommend that readers check out our recent article about auto and gas related iPhone apps.

Image Credit: CNET

Whether you’re looking for a cheap mobile plan, the best bank account for your spending habits, the cheapest digicam store or a nearby gas station with lowest petrol prices — these sites have you covered.

(1) CarRentals.com – Compare Car Rental Rates

CarRentals.com is the biggest car rentals aggregator site that makes comparing car rental rates really easy. It searches for offers from different vendors and gives you a list of available cars sorted by the daily rental rates starting from the cheapest.



By default, results are sorted by price. However, you can also sort them by vendor, distance from your house, car type and vendor location.


(2) BillShrink.com – Compare Cell Phone Plans and Credit Cards

Are you sure you’re getting the best deal with your current cell phone plan? BillShrink.com is the place to find it out. Here, you can instantly compare over 100 mobile plans and find the best one for your usage habits. Fill in your preferences and it will return with the cheapest plan meeting those criterias. It only takes about 3-4 minutes.



The site also lets you compare credit cards.

(3) FindABetterBank – Compare Bank Accounts

Find A Better Bank helps you find an ideal bank account. Enter your zip code, indicate the features that are important to you and additional details to help them estimate yearly banking fees. Then, it will give you a detailed comparison of local banks, sorted from best to worst.



Moreover, when you find the ideal bank for your needs, you may check out what others have to say about it and its rating on MyBankTracer.

(4) GasBuddy – Compare Gas Prices

GasBuddy is a great money saver site for those who drive a lot. On this site, you can quickly check gas prices in your area and find the cheapest gas prices and stations. Just type in your zip code and you’ll get a list of gas pumps along with the gas price at each of them.



When it comes to gas prices, I highly recommend you check out PetroFix. This site allows you to hedge against future gas price increases and make sure you never overpay for gas.

(5) Compare Dimensions: Sizeasy / DisplayWars / TV Calculator

Sizeasy, DisplayWars and TV Calculator are 3 excellent sites that can help you a great deal when you are trying to visualize the dimensions for things like small electronic gadgets, mobile phone and TV screens.

I have used these tools countless times and highly recommend them to everyone. Sizeasy works great for smaller items like mobile phones. The other two focuses on TV screens and monitors.



(6) CompareMyFiles – Compare Text Files

CompareMyFiles is a simple online tool that lets you easily compare two text files online side by side. Very useful when you have slightly different versions of the same file and need to find the exact lines where they differ.



(7) PriceGrabber – Compare Product Prices

PriceGrabber is one of the most popular price comparison sites in USA. Search for the product you want to buy and PriceGrabber will find all retailers selling the product and list them starting from the cheapest. The results can be also sorted by user ratings and reviews.



(8) Rentometer – Compare Rent Rates

On Rentometer, you can find out whether the amount you’re currently paying for your rent is a rip-off or a bargain. Rentomoeter compares the amount you pay to an average rate for similar apartments in the neighborhood. There is also a map view of nearby apartments including their rates.



(9) TicketsFTW / TicketPredator – Comparing Ticket Prices For Events

TicketsFTW and TicketPredator brings the best deals on sports, concert, and theater tickets and even sold-out shows. Simply search for the event you want to attend and see the where you can buy it at the lowest fare.



(10) GlassDoor – Compare Your Salary Against Others

GlassDoor lets you anonymously share your salary figure with others and in return, get full access to salaries of others. Simply post an anonymous salary of your own and in few minutes you will have access to salary figures in over 23,000 companies shared by real employees. This is one of the sites that you should definitely check before going for your next job interview.

There are a few other good comparison sites like ShipGooder, PrintingChoice or FrugalMechanic that were covered on MakeUseOf before but didn’t make the list. Check them out as well.

Did we miss any useful comparison sites? Lets us know in comments!

Top image credit: yan =]

First, you’re going to need some gas (even if you’ve got one of those classy hybrids). Well say no more:

Gas Bag (iTunes Link)

Gas Bag is a nifty little gas pricess app that will show you local gas stations on a map, prices included. It’s a social network, so coverage may be really good or really bad in your area. It all depends on how many locals use the network and actively record their purchases.

Even so, it has a great interface, is easy to use, and many commenters on iTunes seem to think it works very well for them.

The thing I like most is that it has Google Maps integration. While this isn’t a novel feature, it’s been implemented well. Gas Bag can either determine your position with GPS (or pseudo-GPS) or you can manually search for your location. After it has your location, it displays the six or so closest gas stations. You can zoom in or out for more or less options.

Once you decide to purchase some gas somewhere, there is the option to enter your purchase into the network. I won’t go into the specifics of exactly how that interface works, but I’ll say it’s much better than the webapp I used to use to track my gas consumption. I stopped using that webapp because the interface was a bit too tiny and when you’re in a hurry, entering gas data isn’t something you always have time for. Let’s see if this one lasts any longer on my iPhone.

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Now that you’re all gassed up, you’re going to need some traveling music. Well obviously you’re carrying around an iPhone/iPod, but just as the last App helped you pick a gas station, the following one will choose some music for you.

FlyCast (iTunes Link)

FlyCast is a pretty decent iPhone radio application. Usually I use Pandora’s iPhone App whenever I need some impromptu tunes, but sometimes I crave the discretion of a DJ and a mix of music that doesn’t necessarily match my exact taste.

Over the course of my life, I have been generally disappointed with internet radio because either the selection is way too limited or the player is really difficult to use. On both counts, FlyCast makes up for all that lost time.

The lists of stations for each genre isn’t terribly long, but everything is still pretty well represented. Also, FlyCast pulls from several different radio sources so if one doesn’t work out, you can try another. They are still expanding their line-up, but it looks like they already have over 1000 stations.

The interface is the part I like best about FlyCast. After you select a station (which admitedly can be a bit confusing), it takes you to the main player. From here you can play/pause the music as well as adjust the volume.

I’m a bit confused as to why there is a separate slide for the volume (alongside the iPhone’s volume controls), but I assume it has something to do with the incoming stream needing to be controlled differently.

When the stream is building up a buffer, the WiFi logo blinks blue. The number next to that indicates how much music is buffered ahead of where you’re listening. This is a great feature because it tells you how long you can get out of sync with your signal and still have an uninterrupted experience.

Most stations pull in cover art and song information along with the signal. Because it’s just a regular iPhone page, you can double-tap any cover art to blow it up to full size. If you want to surf the web (especially to find out about the songs you’re listening to there is an integrated browser that should keep the music running as you surf.

The rest of the features are a little confusing. I had trouble labeling anything as a favorite and most of the other options didn’t seem to have any function. Detractors aside, the core function of this App is solid and in a world of terrible internet radio players, this one does remarkably well.

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With music in your soul and fuel in your vehicle, it’s time to fill your body with food!

Urbanspoon (iTunes Link)

Urbanspoon is probably the best App on this list. First of all, Urbanspoon is already a really great food review site that lets people rate their local eating establishments socially.

On their network you can have friends too, so you can see who likes what. The iPhone App is partially an extension of that network because you can sign in and benefit from having an account. On top of this, though, there are a few terrific features that can help jazz up your night on the town.

Above is the “shake” interface, which lets you lock in location, style, and/or price and then give your iPhone a hearty shake. This starts the unlocked sections spinning (complete with some fun sounds). Where it stops nobody knows! After the selection is made, you can either shake it again for a new one, or click the item for information. The App can give you the address for directions or simply show you ratings and pictures to help you make the best choice. If this interface isn’t for you, a more low-key “browse” window lets you search all the places near you by rating, style, or closest proximity.

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Hopefully at least one of these Apps will make your next trip a little more fun! … Oh and, in case you’re travelling abroas make sure to check previously posted 10 Travel Websites that should be Bookmarked.

Let us know if you have any other favorites for traveling.