Poll: do you use a web site to find the lowest fuel price? Are you "gas obsessive"?
 

Do you use a web site like MSN, Gasbuddy or equivalent to find the lowest fuel price before re-filling your tank?

I read an article today about comparison shopping for gasoline that used a term I hadn't seen before - "gas obsessive" - to refer to people who strategize & use various tools to get the lowest price they can.

Source: Getting more bang for your buck at the pump - The Globe and Mail

I'm lucky in my situation: Since I don't spend much money on fuel (don't commute, and bike locally as much as practical), I don't really pay attention to the price, or where/when I buy.

And for those of you who use price comparison sites, do you also contribute price reports to them?

Many years ago, when fuel was less than half the price it is now, I actually made a fuel price comparison site for the area I lived in. It was sponsored by the local Toyota dealer - in the early days before the Prius was even sold in North America.

As is the pattern, eventually people became used to new, higher prices, and participation dropped off. We ultimately let the site go and the domain expired. I think it was "gasgouge.com"

I don't go out of my way to buy fuel, as that wastes fuel.

If you can save 20 cents/gallon on gas by driving out of your way, and your car gets 40 mpg and your average fill is 10 gallons, you're only saving $2. That means that cheap gas station has to be within 10 miles of you to justify (at $4/gallon) your driving out of your way.

I think it's incredibly dumb to sit or stand in a line to give your money away - another reason I don't hunt for cheap gas.

I know which stations have the lowest rates on the routes that I periodically drive, and use only those stations to fill up.

Using a site would be helpful, as the information would be more immediate.

I don't go out of my way for cheap gas, since that burns extra gas and wastes my time, but I do keep an eye on prices so I can fill up at the cheapest one I'll be passing. Likewise, if I'm driving out to my friends' place, I'll fill up at the usually-cheapest station on the way, even if it's not on empty.

I contribute to gasbuddy daily. As a result, I always know the prices along my route.

When I fill, I will check and see if there's a better price on one of my alternate routes that's within a mile or two.

I like using the same station and pump near my house - even if I could find fuel cheaper (although they are pretty competitive with everyone around). The difference, a stated above, would have to be pretty substantial to create a net gain worth the time to travel to another station.

But the main reason is that the employees are very friendly to me, and I choose to support businesses with good customer service.

I agree with SentraSE-R and jamesqf. Its not worth my time to go out of the way to get cheaper gas. Most of the stations in my area don't vary by more than 5 cents anyways. Thats a whopping $.50 difference per tank for me, actually normally less than that.

I don't use such sites for "going out of my way". On occasion I use them when embarking on a long trip, to help decide where along the way to top off- which is where to arrive on fumes.

I only fill up 15 times or so per year so I don't bother shopping around, I give my money to a Cenex gas station because they are a Co-op, member owned gas station and I am a member there so instead of profit going to out of state stock holders it stays in my community, it's also one of the few gas stations that is less then a block out of my way.

I don't use websites because they almost never have accurate or complete information for my area, many small fill stations south of here are consistantly $0.25 a gallon cheaper than the ones in the area.

I will fill at the cheapest station on my route to wherever it is I am going. I plan when I need to fill and go specific places specific days so I am never surprized and have to just fill somewhere. (at least very rarely)

I tend to know which stations are less expensive and in some cases the amount is rather extreme because there are several monopolies that I cross when going between areas.

Its really too bad state laws are such that they support monopolies, in Wausau there has been a breakfast club of station owners for decades so every station in that area except for maybe two independants will always have almost exactly the same price (never more than 2 cents difference usually no difference).
It also doesn't help that there is only one supplier to all the stations (except for 2 stations) and that stations that do sell gas for less are put out of business within about 2 years for selling below market or their license being pulled.

Another irritating aspect is if a price is listed on the news and our prices are $0.25 or in one case $0.50 a gallon cheaper, right after the news article about gas prices going up the prices will match on the button whatever was stated in the news. Sadly when the news says prices are going down we are usually 2 weeks behind the curve.

Free country eh?

I suppose I could be qualified as "gas obsessive." I don't go out of my way, but I do keep a running tab in my head on where gas is the cheapest of stations that I will purchase fuel from. I tend to avoid ARCO here though, as their fuel seems to not produce the MPG that the others do even though they tend to be 10-15¢ cheaper. I haven't tested them out beyond that, just my hunch from watching average MPG's. When I can, I do try to time my fillup with my bi-weekly trip to Costco, as their gas is usually cheaper than the lowest station and the MPG's are just fine.

I have a station that I regularly go to. But I will stop at a closer station if I am running out of gas.

...in today's volitile economics, I "knew" where the lowest price was yesterday, but I have to check the website for today's lowest price.

I tend to use web sites for fuel prices when traveling. With gas prices fluctuating like they are only the electronic billboard post prices anymore. I hate getting off the highway to find I've picked the highest station in 3 counties. On my last road trip I noticed that most of the billboards were not lit at night.

From my standpoint, gas is all within a few cents of each other, so why spend the time to go to Costco, a place I hate anyways, just for gas when the station I regularly go to has it for only 3 cents more a gallon? Sure, if I would have gone there maybe I would have paid like $38 instead of $40, but to me that doesn't really matter. In the long run it will affect me, but I don't have any expenses other than gas and car payments right now. Sure, I should get more obsessive, and use things such as Gasbuddy, but when the difference is under a nickel per gallon, I consider it moot (in BOTH terms of the word).

Hello -

I voted that I don't pay much attention (mostly because I have a really messy life). I have a specific set of gas stations at both ends of my commute that I target. They are on the way to/from my work. If there is a tanker delivering gas, I won't use that station because I've been told that the tanker can make sediment in the gas-station storage-tank fly-up. Maybe that's an old wives' tale, but it's not hard to switch over to one of the other stations on the way.

CarloSW2

As long as I fill up on the Missouri side of the River, I'm fine. Near campus on the Illinois side gas is $0.20 more.
I usually stick with the QT near the fiance's apartment.

I check the prices too, when I need to fill the tank. I'm driving around out of necessity anyway, so why not find the cheapest price available in whatever area I am driving thru?

BTW, doing this doesn't mean you are obsessive. Frugal and a tightwad, yes - but not necessarily OCD.

I check gasbuddy to see if the gas prices are rising or falling.

When it is time for me to fill up. I will stop when I see one with 5 cents lower price. You can usually save 5 to 10 cents just by looking a the gas station signs and stopping when you see a low price. Sometimes you have to pay average market rate because there isn't any low ones around.

You know you could do something about that, right?

Have to say I thought the EM membership would be more into using price websites than the poll shows so far. Full of surprises.

Looked at the sites for a while then compared them to my route driven weekdays. Price difference was 3 cents, which is significant when I put in 17 + gallons. For the bikes I am thinking about just buying the fuel in 5 gallon containers and topping them off unitl it is gone then calculating the FE for the total amount of the tank + 5 gallons.

regards
Mech

I voted no.

Main reason? I get a discount at Shell gas stations. (Through Kroger)

Second reason? Even with the biggest fluctuations, in my area it's never more than 3 cents difference. Driving all over the place isn't worth 48 cents. Considering I used to always get the cheapest gas (which ended up being Kroger gas almost always) the car hated it, and it will knock and greatly increase consumption when using watered down gas.

The only time I really check is if I'm planning a long trip, I'll check and see the cheapest stations are along the way and fill up there.

I hadn't voted. One more in the Yes column.

Before high prices 3 years ago I was using any gas station. When prices climbed I compared prices and found supermarkets gas stations cheaper and used them until I began to eco-drive, eco-mod and hypermiling...

I read an article about differences between some gas (much less dust) and additives (cleaners) and decided to try some gas with additives. At the middle of the 1st tank I found my car accepting lower rpm in 5th from 1500 to 1300, then to 1100 after a couple tanks.
As this gas with additives isn't more expensive than buying some additives I decided to continue with this gas. I also found that the gas station I used is the cheapest gas with additives near my commute. Last this gas is extracted, refined and distributed by a French company for which I worked while I was student.

When I have to fill up far from home, I fill up with the same gas I use whatever is the price as it's rare. Rare times I fill up with another gas are when there is strikes and I can't find my gas...

My first goal in saving gas is to save energy and to lower pollution. The money saving helps me into my goal by buying a little bit more expensive gas (+5% while I'm saving 45%) and invest in energy saving projects : better oil, battery, tires... for the car, some insulation for doors and water heater at home; and my preferred a solar panel and a charge controller for a geek project and have fun ;)

Denis.

I don't use a web site.

For gasoline, I do keep an eye on the prices of the local stations which are along my driving route and use the cheapest. There is a Costco near work, and I'll always use that if I need to fill up down there. I typically fill up there around closing time, so rarely encounter a wait.

For diesel fuel, I go to the only station near me that offers a Biodiesel blend. It runs about 5 - 10 cents more per gallon than straight diesel fuel, but I am willing to encourage the business. Heck of a lot easier than making my own BioD, which I don't think would be any cheaper anyway if I were to count the value of my time I'd have to put into the entire process of brewing it.

The 2 times a week I drive by gas stations at around OH 5-9pm when I am on the internet.

Nah. Unless it's closed or I'm too far away, I always fill up at the same station - the one that's ethanol free. However, my last refill was at an E10 station, the one I go to when I don't go to the E0 station.

Only 5 cents? There's stations near my house that will vary over ten cents from the station across the street.

I usually get gas at Costco because it will save $0.20-25 from other stations in the area (Other than ARCO, which I've had problems with).

I'm not normally driving much out of my way to get there. And in my case saving $0.25/gal can save much as $9.00 for a fillup.

scrap of paper, scribble scribble, post online when you arrive.

I now which gas stations in the region have the best prices, so I don't need to compare prices regularly.
I just check up to see what prices will be doing in the next days

3 out of 4 stations right along my usual motorway commute have similar low pricing.

If I take a small short-cut (!) and leave the motorway, I can refuel at a few slightly cheaper fuel stations and drive a few miles less, but that route is far busier, is slower (lower PSL) and has a lot more traffic lights that aren't timed in any way.

On the shortest route, gas is the most expensive, and the roads are very busy with plenty of traffic lights, so I avoid the shortest route as much as I can.

I may avoid some stations, but for gas or diesel I am more concerned about the volume of fuel sold. Freshness. Clean filters (does your station filter?).

If the difference is 10% (not 10-cents) then, yes, I'd be willing to travel. In high school I traveled 15-miles or so (at the cost of a gallon) to buy cheaper gas because, [A] it was payday/Friday and time to cruise 200-miles in an endless loop on legendary Forest Lane; and [B] offsetting the cost of beer was incentive enough. Gas at 39-cents versus 46-cents, and Coors at $1.65/six pack. But wages at $1.35/hr ca. 1976.

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That's something I don't do but should.

As I only get gas about once in 3 months, it would be helpful to see which weeks the gas prices have gone lower.