The average retail gas price in the US has bounced between $3.15 and $4+ a gallon for some in the last year; down from $3.94 in early April 2012 and the record high $4.114 on July 16, 2008, but prices were closing in on $1.50 a gallon in early 2009. . . where will fuel prices go next?Check out these smart ways to gas up for less, including alternatives to driving:
- Exercise all your options (gain health and enjoy the great outdoors):
- Walk to the convenience store instead of driving
- Jog, hike and bike to your destination (at least part of the way)
- Use a scooter, skateboard, skis or roller blades
- Lose weight. When you drive your car, it is lighter and uses less fuel
- Car pool:
- Share the cost with family, friends, neighbors, coworkers and even groups, organizations and businesses
- Get a tune up:
- Out of tune cars waste fuel and may eventually leave you stranded
- Tip: Do your due diligence first. Save yourself major headaches by finding a reliable garage
- Slow down:
- Roughly 1% in fuel economy is lost for every mile per hour driven above 55 mph, according to the California Energy Commission
- Stop high speed driving. It wastes fuel
- No jack rabbit starts. It’s a big fuel burner
- What a drag:
- Travel light. Clear out excess items out of the car, especially the trunk. A lighter car uses less gas
- Turn it off. Stop idling. Excess warm ups and extended stops while the car is still running waste fuel
- Roll down the windows and open the vents (see below). Urban legend? Using air conditioning wastes fuel
- Urban legend? Roll up the windows when you hit the highway. The extra speed causes drag which drains fuel (see above)
- Check your tire pressure:
- Properly inflated tires not only save money on fuel, they could save your life. Contact the manufacturer and read your owner’s manual for specifics
- Separation anxiety. Check your tire treads:
- Make sure there is no separation, balding or uneven spots. If you spot any problems replace tires immediately
- You may want to change tires (or cars!) if your make or model is known for separation
- Ditch your gas guzzler:
- Consider getting a car, alternative fuel vehicle or hybrid car to replace your SUV or minivan. 79% of US motorists will “refocus” on gas mileage when they buy a new vehicle, according to a Harris poll
- Junk your clunker:
- Vehicles on their last legs can cost you a fortune to maintain
- Don’t jump the gun. A good car should last 5 years, at the very least
- Does your gas make the grade? Expensive premium gasoline is the best choice, right?:
- Read your owner’s manual to see what grade of fuel you actually need
- Downgrading may help keep your pockets full
- The public’s right to go:
- Public transportation (bus, train, trolley) can be cost effective, especially when you factor in things like parking fees and the cost of wear-and-tear on your car
- Keep your eyes wide open:
- Look for service stations and areas with a better price. Jot them down. And ask your friends, relatives and associates for help
- Take advantage of media (TV, newspapers, radio, Internet) tips and features, i.e., cheap gas station lists, travel bargains
- Check gaspricewatch, gasbuddy and fuelcostcalculator
- Don’t let the big E (empty) sneak up on you:
- Avoid emergency and unscheduled fill ups
- Time your purchases carefully
- Make all major pit stops at “cheap” stations of your choice
- Constantly monitor how much fuel you have
- Stay alive. Avoid distractions (drive safely):
- Never drink alcohol or use drugs (do your prescription drugs make you drowsy?) and drive. The life you save may be your own. . . your loved ones too
- Use a cell phone headset while driving. Regular cell phones must be used sparingly; pull over for important calls
- Keep your eyes on the road
- When adjusting radio stations, tapes, CDs, DVDs or GPS
- When eating, drinking or smoking
- When talking to (or yelling at) passengers or other drivers, especially kids
- During accidents and traffic jams
- *Leave the driving:
- Air, sea and rail travel may by viable alternatives. No frills airlines like Southwest Airlines have made flying cost effective for domestic travel
- Hotwire, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz can help
For 5 more tips, see trip tips. Pay special attention to the Travel Light section. And read on for more below. . .
46 percent of people polled said spiking gasoline prices are causing them severe financial problems, an AP-Ipsos poll released May 25, 2007 revealed.
Make rush hour bearable.
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Drivers why spend more than you have to on fuel and travel or get stuck in traffic? Use this website to save money and enjoy your trip even more. Happy trails!About $3.303 a gallon was the national pump price. That's up from 2008's sub-$2 a gallon lows. 2007's low was $2.165 on January 29, 2007. $3.223 back in March 1981 is the all-time high for a gallon of gas (adjust for inflation), according to the federal Energy Information Administration's (EIA) weekly survey of 800 service stations (January, 14 2013).
$3.292 a gallon was the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report and Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) survey of 85,000 stations (January 17, 2013).
$30 a gallon is what some opportunists are charging for gas in NY and NJ on Craigslist after superstorm Sandy hit the East coast in fall 2012. Excessive price gouging is illegal there.
$3.4728 was the national average of a gallon of self-serve regular gas. Gas prices are starting to rise again, according to the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the US (November 16, 2012).
10 Countries with the cheapest gasoline. Being a member of OPEC helps. (Christian Science Monitor) 03.01.2012
China now caps gasoline price at 9,380 yuan a ton on average; diesel price at 8,530 yuan a ton (February 2012)
$10.12 a gallon is the price of gas in Norway; while Turkey $9.41 a gallon weighs in summer 2012 (Bloomberg).
In china, $4.89 is the cost of a gallon of gas in summer 2012 (Bloomberg).
UK unleaded gasoline was 138.61p per gallon (PetrolPrices.com, August 2012).
On October 2012 in California, regular gas prices reached an all-time peak of $4.671 a gallon, according to data from AAA.
The price of a gallon of was $3.004 in early August 2006, $1.99 on March 9, 2005 and $3.057 after hurricanes struck Gulf Coast oil installations in 2005, according to motorist organization AAA.
Did you know that gas prices fell below $2 in a few places like Minneapolis and that the nationwide average dropped to $2.269, according to travel club AAA (February 16, 2007)?
Did you know that the 2005 summer driving season ended with some gas stations in Georgia charging as much as $6 a gallon. Gas prices were well over $3 a gallon around the country?
$1.50 a gallon gas? Maybe. But gas prices hit $3 a gallon again first; the record high was $4.114 of a gallon on July 16, 2008 (see above).
Oops! $7+ a gallon gasoline? Skyrocketing crude oil prices may leap past $200 a barrel in 4 years because of tight supplies which could send gas prices past $7 a gallon, according to CIBC World Markets analysts (April 2008).
WRONG: $200 a barrel oil and $5.75 a gallon gas within the next 2 years? This may happen because of a "super-spike" driven by poor growth in oil supplies, according to Goldman Sachs (May 2008).
PREDICTION: $4 a gallon gas through next year the department's Energy Information Administration said on June 11, 2008.
Geopolitical problems in Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and Iraq, worldwide demand increases and seasonal issues like hurricanes may push prices well over the $4 a gallon mark again.
SURPASSED: Spring 2008 peak pump prices will peak at $3.80 a gallon by May, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
National diesel prices are tracked by the AAA and the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).
Way too early! US 2008 spring gas prices may fall below $2.50 a gallon, according to Geoff Sundstrom, AAA motor club spokesman.
Good call! Gasoline prices at the pump may drop to $2 again, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for Oil Price Information Service, says.
The great plunge started! Gasoline prices have fallen nearly 45 cents a gallon in the last 12 weeks the US Energy Department said (August, 2007).
More drivers means more traffic.
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Attention: American Motorists! Check this out.
Venezuela's gas costs 12 cents a gallon. Saudi Arabia's gas was just 45 cents a gallon. And it was 33 cents in Iran before the recent gas rationing and major price increases to a whopping 40 cents a gallon (AIRINC study, May 2008).The price of gas topped $8 a gallon in throughout much of Europe: UK, the Netherlands Belgium, Iceland and Monaco. It nearly $10 in France, was over $11 in Turkey, over $5 in Brazil, over $4 in Israel, over $3 in Russia, South Africa and Australia, $2.50 in Mexico and under $2 in China back in May 2007. Keep this in mind.
How high? Sierra Leone ($18.42 per gallon), Bosnia-Herzegovina ($10.86), Eritrea ($9.58) (AIRINC study, May 2008).
In June 2008, China raised its natioanl base gasoline price by 17% and its diesel price by 18%.
Elsewhere: Aruba ($12.03 per gallon), Egypt and Kuwait (85+ cents), Russia (88 cents) Bahrain (81 cents), Qatar (73 cents), Swaziland (54 cents) and Libya (50 cents): (AIRINC study, May 2008).
During a fuel shortage in the UK, one independent garage in Derby was selling petrol for £11 a gallon. More than 200 filling stations in northwest England were closed or ran dry after frustrated drivers went on a massive panic buying spree, according to the Petrol Retailers Association.
Warning: Some service stations impose a $75 limit on Visa or MasterCard credit card charges at the gas pump. However, a second additional transaction can be made to complete the fill up, if necessary. The limit is touted as a means to protect consumers from fraud. The $75 limit does not apply to charges made at the cash register.
GOOD CALL: Gas prices may soar to $4 a gallon with oil rising as high as $105 per barrel, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.
Around half of all US households, of all income levels, will "definitely or probably" have to cut back on personal spending if gasoline hits $3.50 per gallon, according to a study conducted for the Civil Society Institute's 40MPG.org project.
An ABCNEWS.com poll found that 53 percent of all Americans say recent increases in the price of gasoline have caused financial hardship in their households, up 17 points higher than it was in May 2000.
About half of US motorists cut their spending on weekend trips, according to a Harris poll last summer.
17% of car shoppers have changed their minds about what to buy because of rising gasoline prices (more fuel-efficient cars). An additional 21% were considering vehicles they hadn't before, according to a study by Harris Interactive and Kelley Blue Book.
Did you know that gas prices fell below $2 in a few places like Minneapolis and that the nationwide average has dropped to $2.269, according to travel club AAA (February 16, 2007)?
The average price was under $2 in Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma on January 19, 2007. It also fell below $2 in some areas of Indiana and Illinois the week of January 18, 2007, according the AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
The price was $3.07 in September 2005, when Hurricane Katrina disrupted gasoline supplies, according to the federal Energy Information Administration's (EIA) weekly survey of 800 service stations.
CORRECT: Oil will reach $100 a barrel after a "correction." However, the exact time-frame can't be pinpointed, commodity expert Jim Rogers says. Rogers predicted the start of the commodities rally in 1999.
Gasoline prices typically fall in January amid weaker demand, says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service.
76 percent of US consumers believe gas prices will rise over the coming months, with nearly half believing gas will hit $5.50 per gallon, according to a Boston Consulting Group survey.
Once gas hits $3 a gallon, 78 percent of us will really change our driving habits, according to a Progressive Insurance survey.
The price of a gallon of was $3.004 in early August 2006, $1.99 on March 9, 2005 and $3.057 after hurricanes struck Gulf Coast oil installations in 2005, according to motorist organization AAA.
The 2005 summer driving season ended with some gas stations in Georgia charging as much as $6 a gallon. Gas prices were well over $3 a gallon around the country.
95-percent of local oil production was affected at one point by Hurricane Katrina.
The United States asked the International Energy Agency to release parts of the international reserves into the market to help deal with the supply shortage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
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Trip Tips: Complete List
Before you hit the road, try these. trip tips (see the expanded list).
- Plan your trip carefully and save big
- Don’t invite problems!
- Travel light
- Timing is everything
- Assess different modes of transportation, times of departure and routes to get you there and prices then select the best choice
Your goal is to enjoy the trip. Plan your travel carefully.
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Get FREE coupons and start saving money now!AVOID THE RUSH
Rush hour drivers and travelers may relieve the pressure simply by leaving earlier or later.Traffic congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delays and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel which cost more than $69 billion in 2003, according to the 2005 Urban Mobility Study by Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.
Big city drivers, be prepared for congestion on roads for 1 or 2 hours in the morning and in the evening, according to the 2002 Urban Mobility Study by TTI at Texas A&M University.
The average annual delay per peak road traveler climbed from 16 hours in 1982 to 62 hours in 2000. The total cost for congestion in the 75 urban areas in 2000? $67.5 billion, which was the value of 3.6 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of excess fuel consumed.
In 2005, the annual delay per driver is in excess of 47 hours per year. Shipments are also delayed.
Traffic kills four times as many people as wars, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 12, 2003.
Warning! Hostile drivers are more stress sensitive, according a State University of New York study. They also have higher muscle tension and blood pressure when listening to driving narratives. So relax and put the brake on aggressive driving.
Wake up! Drowsy driving is the cause of 100,000 police-reported crashes each year, costing more than 1,550 deaths, causing 71,000 injuries, and resulting in $12.5 billion in economic costs, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
Note: Living near heavy traffic seems to increase the risk of early death from heart and lung disease, thanks to pollutants in auto exhaust, according to Dutch scientists in The Lancet (week of October 17, 2002).
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