Save this article
Use this article for free on your own website
Republish this article for free on your own website or blog. Or search or browse for more articles that your audience will appreciate. Huge choice available. Ideal for finding quality, free content. Read our publishers guide.
The Best Way To Find The Lowest Gas Prices
There are several ways to reduce your overall expense of gas purchases even before you consider changing your driving habits or taking any actions on your car. The most rudimentary of these is to find the stations that have the lowest prices.
There are several ways to reduce your overall expense of gas purchases even before you consider changing your driving habits or taking any actions on your car. The most rudimentary of these is to find the stations that have the lowest prices.
Seems pretty obvious doesn’t it. The fact is when it comes to gas this simple and logical behavior is forgotten. If you were buying a television you would look for the store with the lowest price. Apparently we have been taught to consider gas differently. Drivers generally purchase gas where it is easiest and most convenient fuel up regardless of price. The station closest to where you live is the usual place to fill up regardless of price.
When your gas gauge shows your tank is low and certainly when you think you might run out of gas you fill up at the very first station you find. In most cases this station will not have the best gas prices. This is one more instance where you may be buying gasoline at a higher price than you should.
A great way to find a station that has the lowest prices is to search the internet. There are a lot of websites that list local gas prices. They list the prices and the locations of the stations where they are found. Here are a few:
GasBuddy.com
Automotive.com
FuelMeUp.com
Finding low prices online is a good idea because you can shop for the best price without driving. In other words, you can find the best gas prices without burning gas to do it.
Studies done by the AAA indicate that it costs on average approximately 51.7 cents per mile to operate your car. So every three miles you drive to find a better price could be costing you $1.50.
That means that if you need to put 15 gallons into your car you have to save about 10 cents for every three miles you drive. If you can find low price gas by not driving around to find it, for every three miles in travel you have eliminated, you have gained 10 cents per gallon.
You need to keep this in mind when doing your research online. If the stations with the best prices are 6 miles away from your usual station, you would have to beat the price of your usual station by 20 cents to break even.
The best way to take advantage of the online pricing information you have gathered is to make sure you use it in conjunction with planning your driving activities. For example: if you always pick up your dry cleaning on Tuesday and your information shows one of the lowest priced gas stations is near the cleaners, you should plan in advance to purchase your gas at that station in conjunction with picking up your cleaning. That way you are taking advantage of the low price without any extra driving.
The internet is a great resource in your quest to lower your gas costs. If you can utilize the information garnered online along with proper planning of where and when you will fill up, then you should start to see considerable savings.