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May 05, 2004

That Elusive 1.99 and 9/10

Apparently people are driving around the city looking for gas under $2. People are really excited when they find gas for $1.99 and 9/10 of a cent. Keep in mind that's essentially two dollars, but whatever. Is this really a efficient use of our time and money? Let's say, for example, that you have a fifteen gallon tank in your car. Filling up for $2.099 will cost you $31.49. If instead, you manage to find a gas station that will sell you gas for $1.999, you will pay $29.99. That's a savings of $1.50. Over the course of a year, you could save $78 if you filled up once a week.

But wait. Where is this gas station? If it's not on your regular path to and from work or school, or wherever it is you are driving, is it really worth it to go out of your way? Let's say your car gets 20 miles a gallon. That's what mine gets, and it's supposed to be really fuel efficient. It's not, but it's supposed to be. A lot of you are driving cars that are far less fuel efficient. But let's suppose we get 20 miles a gallon, because everybody reading this drives my car. I wish you guys would ask first.

So let's say our gas station that saves us 10 cents a gallon is five miles away. That's how far I have to drive to find a station that will give me a decent price. So that's five miles there, and five miles back. That's 10 miles, which is half a gallon a week just to get the cheaper gas. Half a gallon of gas, over the course of a year, is 26 gallons of gas, which is $51.97. You end up saving $26.03. Is it really worth your time to drive around and look for these amazing deals? And what's the cost of wear and tear on your car? On my own car, just in tires and oil, I estimate the yearly cost to be $7.

Frankly, it's just not worth it. On the other hand, if you happen to be driving by one of these cheaper gas stations, why not stop, even if your car doesn't need filling. And if you're filling up at a really expensive gas station, do you really need to fill the car all the way up. I do, because I'm dumb that way, but a few months ago I was filling up at a really expensive station in California, and I was having trouble topping the tank off. Suddenly I thought "what are you doing, Michael!?!" That's not cost effective at all.

There's no doubt gas prices are ridiculously high right now. The station on our corner charges $2.18 for unleaded, $2.41 for super. But it's not cost effective to waste a dollar’s worth of gas to save a dollar. Be smart, people.

Posted by March at May 5, 2004 12:00 PM

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