Driving around for cheaper gas doesn’t pay off
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Loading ...There are several websites and even programs out there that let you search a zip code for gas stations with lower gas prices. But is it really cost-effective to spend time and gas driving around just to save a questionable amount of money?
Let’s do a quick estimate. Say a gallon of gas costs $4.00 at Gas station 1, and that gas place is 1 mile away. Gas station 2 sells the same gasoline for a lower price, $3.85, and its 3 miles away. For this example, our vehicle will have a 12-gallon fuel tank and it will burn approximately 25 miles per gallon (city driving).
So, after calculating the cost of driving (which is a mix of gasoline cost and vehicle amortization cost) you basically save $1.48 per fill-up. And if you are fueling 4 times a month, 48 times per year, your savings will come to around $70 annually. Now, if you also add the cost of the time you will spend in driving (which has no price) my guess is that you will come up with the right answer to the question, ‘Is it really practical to tinker around for cents?’ all by yourself. For the rest of us, who really hate math – it’s not worth the hassle.
Tags: gas | gasoline | cheap gas | vehicle | car | auto
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December 8th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
January 10th, 2009 at 12:06 am
You save $1.80 per fill up and spend about 30 cents extra for the couple of extra miles. So per fill up you save about $1.5. And then amortization as you put it.
This puts the thing in good perspective for me. I do this quite a bit. The good thing though is that there is one gas station which is cheapest for me and therefore I go and fill up with him all the time. So that saves the energy and effort to look up a new station every time.
I think after reading your post I will not go to the pump multiple times. I had a tendency to sometimes go and fill up even when the tank was only half empty. Won’t do that now. But to me it is worth saving that $1.5 as the opportunity cost of my time at that point is 0.
Good post.