My father remembers paying 25 cents for a gallon of gas; I remember paying under a dollar. Oh, to have those days back again.

It doesn’t appear that lower gas prices will  head our way any time in the foreseeable future. However, even though gas prices may soar, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get the most out of every penny spent fueling your car. And one of the best gas-conserving strategies is to involve your mechanic.

There are quite a few things that your mechanic—or, if you’re more of the “do-it-yourself” type, you—can do to improve your gas mileage. Here’s what can be checked and done to improve your gas mileage.

Sparkplugs

A little Engine 101. Your car relies on combustion to create motion—even the new hybrid cars rely on this principle at least in part. In simplest terms, small explosions of a gas and oxygen mix ignited within a confined space push a piston that turns a shaft which, in turn, moves your wheels. The explosion of fuel that is the center of this process is incited by sparkplugs.

Sparkplugs, much like any other part of your car, will wear and age. It’s no wonder when every 1,000 miles, just one sparkplug will fire an estimated 3 million times! As sparkplugs age and corrode, they fire much less efficiently, causing your engine’s performance to drop. Carcare.org estimates that worn sparkplugs could be costing you approximately two miles to the gallon. If your tank holds 25 gallons, you’re losing nearly 50 miles of travel every time you refill!

When you take your car in for its regular maintenance, have your mechanic check your sparkplugs. Look to see if they are worn, corroded, or dirty. Check the gap (too large or small of a gap will cause misfiring). Make sure to check the sparkplug wires as well. Often your sparkplugs may be in great shape, but the wires are damaged or old, which can cause poor sparkplug performance. Despite what your car’s manual may say, sparkplugs should be changed at least every 30,000 miles. Also make sure that your mechanic checks the timing. If the sparkplugs are firing at the wrong time, your car’s performance will feel the effects.

Air Filter

Your car doesn’t just run on gasoline alone. It actually runs on a mixture of gasoline and oxygen. The oxygen is provided in the air, but that air has to pass through a filter before it gets to your engine. The dirtier your filter is, the “richer” the mixture of fuel becomes—meaning, more gas is burnt compared to the amount of air that reaches your engine. Since you pay for gas, and you don’t for air, making sure that the right amount of air gets to your engine should be high on your priority list.

Routinely checking your air filter will ensure not only that impurities don’t get into your engine, but also that the right amount of air does get in. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that changing a dirty air filter will improve your gas mileage by as much as 10 percent! If you’re weighing out the costs, think of this: If you normally average 25 miles to the gallon on a dirty air filter, changing that filter will give you an extra 2.5 miles to the gallon. Off of one 25 gallon tank, that’s an additional 62.5 miles. Looking at that in terms of gasoline, changing your air filter is like getting roughly two gallons of gas free. For most cars, the air filter should be changed every 15,000 miles.