First off, let me start by saying that I hope you didn’t come here in the hopes that I was going to provide some obscure answer or some great insight into why people buy gasoline where they do. If that’s what you came here for, I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to be a bit let down.
It turns out, the answer to the question “what is the main factor behind where you purchase your gas” is actually pretty obvious: people tend to buy gasoline where it’s the cheapest.
According to a poll which ran on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, 77% of respondents stated they chose where to purchase gasoline based on price, 18% stated their decision was based on convenience and the remaining 5% stated their decision was based on brand loyalty.
I wasn’t really surprised at the outcome of the poll; I figured most people would have said that they based their gasoline purchases on price. That being said, I didn’t think price would “win” by that large of a margin over convenience. This is probably because I personally don’t particularly care about the difference in prices between my local gas stations. I figure they’ll all be within a couple of pennies of each other, and because of that assumption, I base my purchases on convenience.
But then again, when you look at the popularity of sites like Gas Buddy or Gas Price Watch, I probably shouldn’t have been as surprised by the outcome. And you can never discount the “I just stuck it to The Man and saved four cents a gallon” factor either.
As a final note, for those of you who purchase gasoline based on price, please realize that you can quickly burn up your savings if you do ultimately drive a little bit further to purchase gas. Even a couple of mile difference can quickly erase any monetary gain you achieved by purchasing lower priced gas.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Well people are just as stupid as I always thought then. I am only 22 but have had about 12-15 cars and driven numerous others, and have always found roughly 10% better fuel economy from top tier fuels such as Chevron and shell. However, they do cost more, but when you add in the fuel economy benefits, depending on your vehicle, it usually comes out to be even or even economically benefit you in the short term. In the long term, I don’t think you can measure what crap fuel like Arco and Safeway will do to your engine. While it may not damage it, fuel with heavy additives will definitely prolong the life of your engine and possibly the major components on it as well. If you avoid a fuel injector service that costs $200 over the course of the life of your vehicle by using top tier fuels, that easily makes those fuels more economically efficient. Cheap fuel isn’t really that cheap – you pay for it somehow. Buy top tier fuel and just pay for it now. A couple bucks more every fill up will barely hurt you, and your car will thank you. You will generally save money in the long run. Don’t forget to calculate how much your time is worth, and the hassle of having your car in the shop. That is not only money spent, it is money and time lost.
$3 / 20mpg =15 cents a mile, gosh 3 miles is kinda like drying clothes for 45min, or heating 1500 square feet from 60->64 degrees for an hour when its 40 degrees outside. These are rough error prone estimations, but if gas is 5 cents cheaper, driving 3.2 miles would save you no money, and would agravate the environment substantially. Basically, the fuel economy tip is right, don’t ever go looking for cheap gas, unless it is on your way anyway, 1 mile of looking will likely cost you more, and as you continue looking, you chances of saving drop to negative exponentially faster
, all the while, every mile you drive literally screwing the environment. I’m not sure what the home energy kwh ghg emissions vs. mpg ghg emissions comparison would be.
calcs work for small purchases. If you but 15 gal at a .05 savings that exceeds the .45 expense.
What I can’t understand is people paying .10 more per gallon than a gas station a fey hundred yards away
I’m not advocating that people shouldn’t try and buy the cheapest gas, nor am I saying that people should sit down and calculate to the tenth of a mile how far they can travel before they lose their savings. That being said, I think most people either don’t realize or fail to take into consideration the fact that the cheapest gas station may not always be the best choice.
That sounds very reasonable and a little smug. Drive 3.2 miles and save no money if the gas is five cents cheaper. (BTW, you don’t mention how many gallons purchased you’re basing that on.) Now lets look at the reality of where I live. In Indianapolis the spread is almost thirty cents a gallon. From $2.30 to $2.59 according to the web sites this page informed me of. A little bit wider if you look outside Marion county to the general Indy area. It is 4.1 miles from the $2.37 gas to the $2.54 cents gas in my area. So even if I were by the expensive gas and decided to go out of my way to the cheap gas, I’d still save money. Except it’s even better than that. I don’t live at the expensive gas station. I live almost exactly midway between the two. In fact I regularly pass both these stations during the week. I just keep an eye on gas prices when I do my normal driving and stop at the cheapest gas I’ve seen while I’m doing other errands! Amazing isn’t it! I don’t know anyone who regularly makes a special purpose trip just to buy gas. If that was normal, then yes, it would be stupid to drive around comparing gas prices looking for the best price. Why don’t you try some real world calculations and get off your high horse?
4 cents my A$$, yes it was a smug, and I am on a high horse, the lack of environmental policy in this country is getting fumes to my brain. I was assuming a 10gallon tank, I think thats what my malibu has. I’m too lazy to work out the calculations right now. If you drive right by the gas station anyway, I would say that is very cool, later.
i drive waaay out of my way to buy gas, because the outside counties can still sell “good” gas, not that crap that reduces my mileage by 10%. the price is usually the exact same, or higher for good gas, as it’s sale requires an additional $0.05 of gasoline tax.
gas mileage is INDEED a factor, as my non hyrid auto is capable of 55 miles per weighted gallon. weighted means that stopping and shifting and speeding are kept to respecable minimums.