THE AA has produced some tips for saving money and fuel.

On the motorway alone, as much as £20-25 can be clawed back from school holiday trips to the seaside, amusement parks, relatives and to other tourist destinations.

Even motorists taking friends and family to airports can recover the cost of short-term parking from a round trip of 80 miles.

Typical ways of burning money on the motorway include:

Driving with under-inflated tyres, window/sunroof open or air conditioning on, and carrying extra load. Combined, these factors can sap fuel at the rate of 45 pence per 50 miles of motorway in a small car and 43 pence in a medium car

“Going with the flow” at 80-85 mph instead of the 70mph national speed limit. For every 10 miles, fuel costs for a small car go up 32 zpence and 29 pence for a medium saloon.

Standing still in a traffic jam. A small car idling in a tailback squanders fuel at a rate of one penny a minute, while a medium-sized car loses two pence every minute.

Driving with an empty roof rack. This destroys a car’s aerodynamics, boosting fuel consumption by a staggering 10 per cent or more at motorway speeds. It adds 47 pence every 50 miles for a small car and 60 pence for a medium car. Fully loaded, the penalty can rise to 30 per cent depending on luggage height.

“With petrol priced at £3.20 a gallon, lumping together the savings from just two or three fuel economy driving techniques can reap a significant pay-back,” said David Lang, the AA’s chief engineer.

“People do not see themselves as ‘gas guzzlers’, but they may be surprised how much fuel and money they can save over the summer.”