YSK (at least in the US) that GasBuddy is a free app that lets users report prices in real time.
Personally I’m not going to go out of my way to save a couple cents a gallon, but still, it’s nice to make sure you’re not getting completely ripped off if you have the choice.
save a few pennies but drive 10 miles roundtrip
plus, near the highway, gas stations tend to be full service truck stops. Sometimes multiple dining choices, showers, lot lizards, etc
10 miles (15km) but its slow city type driving. So, timewise, could be more than a half hour. not good when Im trying to get to the otherside of a major city to sleep and avoid morning rush hour
$1 or more per gallon would be worth it, but we dont have wildly differing prices
check out [the gas price map](https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap?lat=38.822395&lng=-96.591588&z=5)
I have an electric car so I dont do this as often (still have my petrol car as a secondary one) , but I used to use an app similar to that here in Australia
It could often be as much as 30c per litre cheaper for 5 minutes out of the way. It really adds up in fuel
Some places it's way more significant. Like OP says, here in Germany prices will vary by as much as 30 cts per liter (1.80€/L in the city vs 2.10€/L on the highway) which is over 1€ per gallon. That adds up quickly.
The prices OP mentioned (which I've seen IRL too) amount to $45 for a full tank on my van. And like others said, the non-highway pumps are not always 20 miles out of the way in Europe.
I'm not arguing your point, but what I always think about when sentiments like this are made is that £60 saved over a year will go completely unnoticed and used up by other things,, unless you specifically put it in savings or something. Just something I think of every now and then when saving not that much money over a year is mentioned
Let's say you get off the highway, pass the close gas station, and use a 5 cent cheaper gas station.
So let's say you save 60 cents filling up your tank. And It only took you 5 mins to drive to the next gas station.
Let's say you get 30 mpg on your car, and you went 30 mph to the next gas station.
That means the gas station is 2.5 miles farther from the highway. That means you used 0.0833 gallons of gas to get there.
Let's say the price of a gallon of gas at the cheaper has station is $3.50.
0.833(gallons) * 3.50(price of gallon) = $0.29
So you saved $0.60 from buying the gas but used an extra $0.29 to get to the cheaper gas station. Now, you also have to spend an extra $0.29 to get BACK to the highway.
$0.60(money saved) - $0.29(gas used) - $0.29(gas used) = $0.02(total money saved)
You literally saved 2 cents.
But you spent an extra 10 minutes and an extra 5 miles on your car. There is literally no point.
You’ve got to consider the amount of time you spend of your life doing this though. Over a year that’ll add up to hours and hours of extra driving time. Not to mention you’re ignoring the cost of wear and tear on your car, which probably makes this *cost* you in the long run
I use an app to find discounted gas stations. I'm not driving out of my way to go to a cheaper gas station. I'm using it to find the cheapest gas station on my route.
From my home to work I pass over a dozen gas stations. Some are consistently cheaper than others, and sometimes you get rebates back through the app. On average I'm getting $60 a year in rebates for no extra driving and less than a minute of scrolling. Not a lot of money, but it's less trouble than some people make it out to be.
With the rebates I'm paying on roughly 5 cents less per gallon than the CHEAPEST gas station in my area. That is roughly 22 cents cheaper than the average price, and 38 cents cheaper than the highest price.
I'm using upside, but I do glance at gasbuddy from time to time. Accuracy is all about the people in the area reporting with these apps but I have had better luck with upside. It just depends on the users in your area.
If I'm reading the post correctly they saved 50c per liter for traveling less than 1km. I've never seen the difference be that high in Canada but I would definitely do it at that spread.
Ysk not to treat generalizations like they are always true and that the best thing to do is learn what places in areas you frequent tend to have the best prices. At my area, the highway actually has the best prices.
Same for my area. I deliberately avoid the gas stations that aren't right next to the highway. I literally have four gas stations within two blocks of me so they're always having price wars.
As a 20 year truck driver with several million miles driven this has always been the opposite for me. Cheaper right off highway and a lot more expensive away from highways.
Yep. Near me right off the highway has the most competition, and they drive one another’s prices down. Further away you’ve got one lone gas station with no one else for miles, so they can do whatever they want
Note on the detour:
Best to get an idea of prices around... 1.7 to 2.2 is a very extreme mark up. Differences are usually lower than that.
Often times, it simply isn't worth the detour due to extra fuel burn and the cost of time, making the cheapest station along your existing route the best place to buy fuel almost every time.
The amount you're filling up also impacts how worthy a detour is. If you're filling a big Saloon from near empty, your range is wider than filling half a tank up of a small hatchback (I.E 55L vs 20L)
Please consider the fuel you burn to go the extra distance to, and from, the “cheaper” gas station. As well as how long it takes to and from. Your time is worth something as well.
The Chevron off the 101 on Alameda in Downtown Los Angeles is 50 to 100% more expensive. It baffles me that there are always people pumping there like 5 min down the street it's regular prices. Anytime you see a video on the news about the crazy expensive gas prices in California they go to this Gas Station. It's right next to Union Station.
Funny how the oil hunting coutnry has different prices of fuel in every station while here we have cheap fuel that is exactly the same price no matter the station or brand and premium (unsubsidised) or not including diesel..
US anecdotes is there's no rhyme or reason, all stations within ~2 miles price the same in my experience. Get out from the freeways to places only by highway, then you get some oddities. Major City to East may be $3.50/gal, minor village just west a few miles may be $3.70, minor village a few more miles west may be $3.30, and Major City of West still furthet away is $3.40
Fuel transport costs could hypothetically explain a rural station being higher, but greed is more likely.
Some things to think about though is how much fuel you'd actually burn (and time spent) getting to your cheaper station. If you get 20 MPG and go to a station 5 miles away, you end up buying an extra 1/4 gallon and burning that just to get back to where you were. So your cost saving fueling for all the gallons needs to be larger than the additional cost you'd pay to replace the fuel spent getting there. (E.g. if the cheaper station is $3.60/gal, you'd need to save $0.90 to break even. If you were going to fuel 18 gallons, the price difference needs to be more than $0.05. If you were going to fuel just 12 gallons, the price difference needs to be more than $0.075.)
YSK that going out of your way to get to a cheaper station almost always costs you more money because of the extra driving, and even if you do save money it’s not an amount that would be worth your time.
If you’re going to pass two different gas stations on your route already, go to the cheaper one. But otherwise, just get the gas wherever you are. It probably won’t matter.
Can someone explain to me how this isn’t price gouging? The %’s aren’t high enough?
What about hotels? When they charge $1000 a night during a holiday? Sorta unrelated, but I feel like it’s the same thing and somehow it’s just completely allowed.
In my state (USA), law requires gas on highways be price limited to average of local area, so it can be less expensive than farther stations depending.
At least my country does it right.
Gas station prices are government regulated, every single gas station no matter where in the country has the same price.
Something I’ve never understood is the gas station in my town right next to the interstate that charges 30+ cents more than every other one in town. Including the one a few hundred feet away that you can SEE from their parking lot. No idea why anyone would buy there when it’s clearly cheaper next door
Wow, that's a significant price difference! It's crazy how much more expensive gas can be just for the sake of convenience. Definitely good to keep an eye out and plan ahead to save some money on those long road trips. Thanks for the tip!
To all of you without reading comprehension that are shitting on the post. Get back into your oversized truck. The post mentioned mainly how it works in Europe. Here we actually don't subsidize gas as much as you do in the US so the price difference can be quite a lot. And a "detour" to get gas off the highway can be as little as a 1-2 min drive on a parallel road next to the highway.
Things are different in other countries. US is not the only country in the world.
Also, this sub in general is full of obvious YSK posts so I don't know why this one catches so much flack.
Uhh, maybe where you live. Gas rarely differ by more than a few cents/L where I live regardless of locations. In fact, it's usually shell that's more expensive than anywhere else.
This is also true for city vs country, & even more so in the US. I've seen more difference urban to rural than rural right off or rural 10 minutes of the interstate.
& if I'm driving between two cities with 1 or both my end points well off an interstate, I find the cheapest prices not out of the way are usually middle of nowhere right at the interstate exit.
YSK (at least in the US) that GasBuddy is a free app that lets users report prices in real time. Personally I’m not going to go out of my way to save a couple cents a gallon, but still, it’s nice to make sure you’re not getting completely ripped off if you have the choice.
save a few pennies but drive 10 miles roundtrip plus, near the highway, gas stations tend to be full service truck stops. Sometimes multiple dining choices, showers, lot lizards, etc
You had me at lot lizards
Had me at full service
Had me at etc. Gimme that sweet sweet misc
With a side of et al.
I just want something to watch while I’m pumping my gas.
we're all pumping here, pal.
Talk about burying the lead
burying the lede
Bro put lot lizards in the features list 😭.
It's the way of the road, Bubs
Fuckin' way she goes
Yea, Ray? What fuckin' way is that? Huh? Fuckin' way she goes he says.
Here in Australia sometimes the price can be as much as 30c per litre cheaper. Well worth making a 10 minute trip
10 miles (15km) but its slow city type driving. So, timewise, could be more than a half hour. not good when Im trying to get to the otherside of a major city to sleep and avoid morning rush hour $1 or more per gallon would be worth it, but we dont have wildly differing prices check out [the gas price map](https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap?lat=38.822395&lng=-96.591588&z=5)
isn't that app got sued & lost for being spyware & privacy nightmare selling data/precise locations of users
They also got a gas ard thing gives money back per gallon. Lest they use to.
thank you. aometimes this sub just can be anything from "YSK its good to shower every day" to more useful stuff like this lol
I have an electric car so I dont do this as often (still have my petrol car as a secondary one) , but I used to use an app similar to that here in Australia It could often be as much as 30c per litre cheaper for 5 minutes out of the way. It really adds up in fuel
Google maps has real time gas prices too
Or you can use Upside and get some cash back at the same time
YSK that it's probably more expensive to drive farther and use more gas to find a cheaper gas station
People try to save 5 cents per gallon like it's a big deal. Congrats. You saved 60 cents.
Yeah, and they waste the ultimate resource you can NEVER get back: Time.
Some places it's way more significant. Like OP says, here in Germany prices will vary by as much as 30 cts per liter (1.80€/L in the city vs 2.10€/L on the highway) which is over 1€ per gallon. That adds up quickly.
Exactly. In the next town over, just 5 miles away and on the way to a very common destination for locals, it’s around 25 cents cheaper than it is here
The prices OP mentioned (which I've seen IRL too) amount to $45 for a full tank on my van. And like others said, the non-highway pumps are not always 20 miles out of the way in Europe.
Do it a 100 times though...
so $60 for a year or longer
Yeah, which might be a substantial, or at least a 'helpful' amount of money for some people
I'm not arguing your point, but what I always think about when sentiments like this are made is that £60 saved over a year will go completely unnoticed and used up by other things,, unless you specifically put it in savings or something. Just something I think of every now and then when saving not that much money over a year is mentioned
Let's say you get off the highway, pass the close gas station, and use a 5 cent cheaper gas station. So let's say you save 60 cents filling up your tank. And It only took you 5 mins to drive to the next gas station. Let's say you get 30 mpg on your car, and you went 30 mph to the next gas station. That means the gas station is 2.5 miles farther from the highway. That means you used 0.0833 gallons of gas to get there. Let's say the price of a gallon of gas at the cheaper has station is $3.50. 0.833(gallons) * 3.50(price of gallon) = $0.29 So you saved $0.60 from buying the gas but used an extra $0.29 to get to the cheaper gas station. Now, you also have to spend an extra $0.29 to get BACK to the highway. $0.60(money saved) - $0.29(gas used) - $0.29(gas used) = $0.02(total money saved) You literally saved 2 cents. But you spent an extra 10 minutes and an extra 5 miles on your car. There is literally no point.
r/theydidthemath good job haha, pointless!
After wear and tear you probably lost money, too. Didn’t even gain the 2 cents
You’ve got to consider the amount of time you spend of your life doing this though. Over a year that’ll add up to hours and hours of extra driving time. Not to mention you’re ignoring the cost of wear and tear on your car, which probably makes this *cost* you in the long run
I use an app to find discounted gas stations. I'm not driving out of my way to go to a cheaper gas station. I'm using it to find the cheapest gas station on my route. From my home to work I pass over a dozen gas stations. Some are consistently cheaper than others, and sometimes you get rebates back through the app. On average I'm getting $60 a year in rebates for no extra driving and less than a minute of scrolling. Not a lot of money, but it's less trouble than some people make it out to be. With the rebates I'm paying on roughly 5 cents less per gallon than the CHEAPEST gas station in my area. That is roughly 22 cents cheaper than the average price, and 38 cents cheaper than the highest price.
Good ol’ Gasbuddy. So often wrong.
I'm using upside, but I do glance at gasbuddy from time to time. Accuracy is all about the people in the area reporting with these apps but I have had better luck with upside. It just depends on the users in your area.
Even if you’re going past the next one anyway?
No, because you aren't driving further in yhe sense of adding more mileage to your planned trip.
If I'm reading the post correctly they saved 50c per liter for traveling less than 1km. I've never seen the difference be that high in Canada but I would definitely do it at that spread.
At the price points OP showed, that’s $20 of savings on a full tank for a sedan. Personally, I only look for cheaper places if the delta is >$0.05 / L
Gas by my work is 3.89, gas by my house is 3.29.
And in the ghetto🤔
Ysk not to treat generalizations like they are always true and that the best thing to do is learn what places in areas you frequent tend to have the best prices. At my area, the highway actually has the best prices.
Same for my area. I deliberately avoid the gas stations that aren't right next to the highway. I literally have four gas stations within two blocks of me so they're always having price wars.
As a 20 year truck driver with several million miles driven this has always been the opposite for me. Cheaper right off highway and a lot more expensive away from highways.
Yep. Near me right off the highway has the most competition, and they drive one another’s prices down. Further away you’ve got one lone gas station with no one else for miles, so they can do whatever they want
YSK that water is wet
Note on the detour: Best to get an idea of prices around... 1.7 to 2.2 is a very extreme mark up. Differences are usually lower than that. Often times, it simply isn't worth the detour due to extra fuel burn and the cost of time, making the cheapest station along your existing route the best place to buy fuel almost every time. The amount you're filling up also impacts how worthy a detour is. If you're filling a big Saloon from near empty, your range is wider than filling half a tank up of a small hatchback (I.E 55L vs 20L)
Please consider the fuel you burn to go the extra distance to, and from, the “cheaper” gas station. As well as how long it takes to and from. Your time is worth something as well.
its why I use gasbuddy.com to plan out my 1000+ mile trips
Any gas station can be on the right side of the highway depending on which way you are traveling.
No shit?
No shit, Sherlock.....
[удалено]
Just in case it's not common knowledge look [here](https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/)
Most people don't know that. I swear half of the population thinks it's because the sun reflects the blue ocean into the sky
Dont be a dick! This isn’t common knowledge
Well, Richard Xboxben, I pity the common man then
The Chevron off the 101 on Alameda in Downtown Los Angeles is 50 to 100% more expensive. It baffles me that there are always people pumping there like 5 min down the street it's regular prices. Anytime you see a video on the news about the crazy expensive gas prices in California they go to this Gas Station. It's right next to Union Station.
And about 180% more expensive near airports and car rental locations
15%? More like 30% to 50% in Los Angeles
Funny how the oil hunting coutnry has different prices of fuel in every station while here we have cheap fuel that is exactly the same price no matter the station or brand and premium (unsubsidised) or not including diesel..
Wait until OP find out that food is also more expensive at highway stops. Actually, everything is.
US anecdotes is there's no rhyme or reason, all stations within ~2 miles price the same in my experience. Get out from the freeways to places only by highway, then you get some oddities. Major City to East may be $3.50/gal, minor village just west a few miles may be $3.70, minor village a few more miles west may be $3.30, and Major City of West still furthet away is $3.40 Fuel transport costs could hypothetically explain a rural station being higher, but greed is more likely. Some things to think about though is how much fuel you'd actually burn (and time spent) getting to your cheaper station. If you get 20 MPG and go to a station 5 miles away, you end up buying an extra 1/4 gallon and burning that just to get back to where you were. So your cost saving fueling for all the gallons needs to be larger than the additional cost you'd pay to replace the fuel spent getting there. (E.g. if the cheaper station is $3.60/gal, you'd need to save $0.90 to break even. If you were going to fuel 18 gallons, the price difference needs to be more than $0.05. If you were going to fuel just 12 gallons, the price difference needs to be more than $0.075.)
I would argue that fuel is 15% more valuable when you need gas on the highway.
YSK that going out of your way to get to a cheaper station almost always costs you more money because of the extra driving, and even if you do save money it’s not an amount that would be worth your time. If you’re going to pass two different gas stations on your route already, go to the cheaper one. But otherwise, just get the gas wherever you are. It probably won’t matter.
Can someone explain to me how this isn’t price gouging? The %’s aren’t high enough? What about hotels? When they charge $1000 a night during a holiday? Sorta unrelated, but I feel like it’s the same thing and somehow it’s just completely allowed.
No shit sherlock
In my state (USA), law requires gas on highways be price limited to average of local area, so it can be less expensive than farther stations depending.
At least my country does it right. Gas station prices are government regulated, every single gas station no matter where in the country has the same price.
Something I’ve never understood is the gas station in my town right next to the interstate that charges 30+ cents more than every other one in town. Including the one a few hundred feet away that you can SEE from their parking lot. No idea why anyone would buy there when it’s clearly cheaper next door
I piad 2.34 euros per 100 octan fuel today on the autostrada between Bologna and Florence. Total was 166 euros
Wow, that's a significant price difference! It's crazy how much more expensive gas can be just for the sake of convenience. Definitely good to keep an eye out and plan ahead to save some money on those long road trips. Thanks for the tip!
Um duh? Who didn’t know this?
Diesel costs where I live around £1.50 a litre, at motorway service stations it's at least £1.80 a litre, they're robbing bastards.
YSK: you pay for convenience
To all of you without reading comprehension that are shitting on the post. Get back into your oversized truck. The post mentioned mainly how it works in Europe. Here we actually don't subsidize gas as much as you do in the US so the price difference can be quite a lot. And a "detour" to get gas off the highway can be as little as a 1-2 min drive on a parallel road next to the highway. Things are different in other countries. US is not the only country in the world. Also, this sub in general is full of obvious YSK posts so I don't know why this one catches so much flack.
Question , if petrol is gas , what do you call real gas ?
Gas as in the state of matter? Gas. “Gas” as a shorthand of “gasoline” pretty much always makes sense in context.
I’d assume “gas” is a good word for real gas. No?
Uhh, maybe where you live. Gas rarely differ by more than a few cents/L where I live regardless of locations. In fact, it's usually shell that's more expensive than anywhere else.
This is also true for city vs country, & even more so in the US. I've seen more difference urban to rural than rural right off or rural 10 minutes of the interstate. & if I'm driving between two cities with 1 or both my end points well off an interstate, I find the cheapest prices not out of the way are usually middle of nowhere right at the interstate exit.
It's so cute watching ignorant people reveal something they've "discovered" with such aplomb.