Fuel prices are still a big item in most family budgets.

So how can you reduce the costs of essential car travel?

Converting your car to LPG is one way.

The figures stack up well.

Currently, a litre of unleaded petrol will cost at least 124.7 cents in Sydney.

But LPG is selling for prices as low as 57.9 cents a litre, in the same market.

In real life, though, the comparisons are never quite that simple.

Fuel consumption, for example, is slightly higher in LPG vehicles, than in conventional petrol powered ones.

Besides, there’s the cost of the conversion, itself, or the purchase of a new LPG vehicle to consider.

And new vehicles, already equipped for LPG, do cost more than their petrol powered counterparts.

But there are offsets, which you shouldn’t forget.

In both cases, the Federal government is offering a $2,000 grant, to get you behind the wheel of a vehicle that runs on liquid petroleum gas.

Why?

According to a new report, it wanted to help families, like yours, with fuel costs.

It also wanted to promote cleaner fuels.  And LPG is better for the environment than petrol.

Australians responded enthusiastically, even though LPG tanks, which are bigger than petrol ones, can take up a lot of space in a car.

The report, by the National Audit Office, says  almost 227,000n grants were made under the scheme between August 2006 and June last year.

And the cost, of almost $452 million, was well above the government’s own estimate, of a likely bill of some $305 million, for this period.

The Audit Office says 93 per cent of applications for the grant are approved on the first application – and even more are approved, once initial problems with the paperwork are sorted out.

You can apply either through Centrelink or your local Medicare office.