As pump prices climb, savvy owner-operators must do everything they can to cut costs.

As pump prices climb, savvy owner-operators must do everything they can to cut costs. Here are 12 ways to boost your smiles per gallon. Everyone discusses the weather, says the adage, but no one does anything about it. For too many of today’s owner-operators, the preferred topic of pointless conversation is not the weather, but the high price of diesel fuel.

According to Overdrive research, only 38 percent of owner-operators have changed their driving habits to improve their fuel economy. Only 15 percent have invested in a fuel-saving device such as an auxiliary generator or a cab heater. And only 11 percent use an online fuel price service to plan their fuel stops.

Those who have taken steps to improve their fuel economy have gained an average of 1.3 miles per gallon, according to the 2005 Overdrive Owner-Operator Behavior Report. That’s a huge advantage. For an owner-operator who runs 130,000 miles a year, the difference between 6 mpg and 7.3 mpg is 3,859 gallons. At today’s pump prices, that’s easily a savings of $10,000 a year.

“You wouldn’t think a few cents a gallon would make much difference, but at the rate truckers buy fuel, it really adds up,” says Gary Aitken, whose Indianapolis accounting firm has specialized in owner-operators for 37 years.

“When I started in the business in 1998, fuel costs were running about 20 percent of an operator’s gross,” says Doug Kozeny, vice president of Truckers Professional Services in Omaha, Neb. Today, they’re 40 percent, even in a well-run business, he says. “Anything you can do to cut back on that is good.”