Are you paying too much for gas?

[JSPhoto]

Last nights news had a story on the Weights & Measures, the state run group in charge of making sure gas pumps amongst other things put out exactly what they are supposed to when you buy gas. In the first part of a multi part story they talked about Anderson In. where none of the pumps were tested last year, but all had stickers stating they were tested. The story led to the resignation of the man who was supposed to be doing the testing, but he didn't because he was hospitalized or home sick most of the year. So how much did this cost consumers? And how much did it have to do with those ungodly high profits of the big oil companies.

I never really thought about it until that story last night, but since I started driving in 1975 (legally ) I have never once seen anyone measuring gas pumps. Even the years I spent working at gas stations I had never seen anyone do this, yet the pumps always had pretty new stickers every year. I remember the stickers were changed at one station after I closed and before I opened the next morning. Now the question is: how did they test the pumps when they were turned off? It's impossible to do it with the pumps off, and the boss didn't come in because he was out of state that whole week.

The chances of being ripped off at the pump is a lot higher than not, and is probably a big reason for the high profits, especially at the stations that are not big oil company stations that are resellers. It also makes me wonder if thats how many of these smaller companies like the local Gas America is making the big bucks they are. They started with gas station and now are growing by leaps and bounds, buying up stations all over the state now. Shorting customers even two or three cents per gallon is big bucks when you consider the number of cars and trucks through just one of their stations in a single day.
So do you gamble? Well you are every time you get gas, the chances are your paying for more than you get, and on very rare occasions your getting more than you pay for, but from the studies done by the news the chances are your getting screwed at the pumps!

For a look at the investigation by Ch 13 see: http://www.wthr.com or
http://www.wthr.com/global/Story.asp?s=6436452

JS

[Ronnoco]

To make matters worse in Canada we are paying 24 cents more per gallon for our gas than you guys and gals are in the US for exactly the same gas exported by Canada.

Ronnoco

[Frog]

Probably true, JS but if the pumps were accuratly gauged and the gas lords started making a little less because of it, they'd just up the price to make up for it.

[masdog]

This sounds like something for Dateline NBC to investigate. God knows they need something besides their current reports.

[adina]

Well, I'm paying $3.29 a gallon, and even if they aren't screwing me, that's way too much. Cost almost $50 to fill up our Elantra.

I remember paying 88 cents a gallon when my oldest was born.

[DaveLC2]

I have to run premium in my daily driver. I have to fill up today but the last tank I got was $3.71 per gal. I get between 21-23mpg so I guess it's not too bad. My wife really wanted a Prius but there was a long waiting list and they were charging over sticker for them. We ended up getting her something else. The Prius would've been perfect since she does all city driving.

Dave

[JSPhoto]

We learned recently because o this series that the local man responsible for testing the pumps in our county has not been inspecting the pumps at all, or testing them for how much fuel they are pumping. He has simply been sticking the "tested" stickers on and leaving....not too mention making a bundle of money a year for doing nothing.

I am hoping that the county commissioners fire him Wednesday night at their monthly meeting. If not they may be out o a job in November.....

JS

[DaveLC2]

We learned recently because o this series that the local man responsible for testing the pumps in our county has not been inspecting the pumps at all, or testing them for how much fuel they are pumping. He has simply been sticking the "tested" stickers on and leaving....not too mention making a bundle of money a year for doing nothing.

I am hoping that the county commissioners fire him Wednesday night at their monthly meeting. If not they may be out o a job in November.....

JS

A co-worker of mine just got one of these jobs recently. He drives around inspecting pumps and meters. He fines them and shuts them down if they are messing with stuff.

Dave

[SmartWombat]

21-23 mpg not bad?
Get back on planet earth.
40-50mpg is reasonable for my car.
The diesel city car version gets 90mpg.
OK so I really want to drive the AUDI R10

Saw an interesting article on car tuning.
Said that the calorific value of premium fuel is lower than regular.
The additives control the burn, stopping knock, but I was surprised to read that.

I can't find any difference between 95 and 99 RON on my usual daily run in the UK.
But on the autobahn flat out for half a day from Frankfurt to home, the German 100 RON definitely made a performance difference, giving 5mph top speed improvement.
So the fuel differs between countries in Europe, and I guess between us and the USA too.

[DaveLC2]

21-23 mpg not bad?
Get back on planet earth.
40-50mpg is reasonable for my car.
The diesel city car version gets 90mpg.
OK so I really want to drive the AUDI R10

Saw an interesting article on car tuning.
Said that the calorific value of premium fuel is lower than regular.
The additives control the burn, stopping knock, but I was surprised to read that.

I can't find any difference between 95 and 99 RON on my usual daily run in the UK.
But on the autobahn flat out for half a day from Frankfurt to home, the German 100 RON definitely made a performance difference, giving 5mph top speed improvement.
So the fuel differs between countries in Europe, and I guess between us and the USA too.

Yeah our premium is only 91 here in California and the regular is 87. Mid grade is 89. My car is turbo charged so I have to make sure I put good quality gas in it. I could've bought something else so it doesn't bother me too much that I am paying more than people pumping regualar. We have absolutly nothing to complain about compared to you all in the UK. I heard that it would take about $9 American dollars to buy one gal or 3.8 Liters of gas in the UK 21-23mpg is not to bad compared to what a lot of other people get around here in the BIG SUV's. I thought about getting a VW Jetta TDI but my wife is allergic to the diesel fumes I believe they get 50mpg and run 300k miles if taken care of.

Dave

[masdog]

21-23 mpg not bad?
Get back on planet earth.
40-50mpg is reasonable for my car.
The diesel city car version gets 90mpg.
OK so I really want to drive the AUDI R10

I find it odd that I get better gas mileage going 80 mph (close to 40 mpg) than I do at 55 mph (between 30 and 35 mpg).

Saw an interesting article on car tuning.
Said that the calorific value of premium fuel is lower than regular.
The additives control the burn, stopping knock, but I was surprised to read that.

That doesn't surprise me.

[DaveLC2]

21-23 mpg not bad?
Get back on planet earth.
40-50mpg is reasonable for my car.

May I ask what kind of car you drive? I've owned high fuel economy vehicles before. The most recent was a Honda CRX HF that was rated at 52mpg on the highway. I averaged between 45-45 with mixed driving. I sold it due to safety as you get no respect in small cars around here. People think that they can just cut you off as if you're not even there. If there were more smaller cars I'd probably get another CRX. It was a fun car. The other two were a couple of Acura Integra's which got well over 30mpg and ran like a top on 87.

Dave

[JSPhoto]

I have to run premium in my daily driver. I have to fill up today but the last tank I got was $3.71 per gal. I get between 21-23mpg so I guess it's not too bad. My wife really wanted a Prius but there was a long waiting list and they were charging over sticker for them. We ended up getting her something else. The Prius would've been perfect since she does all city driving.

Dave

When I bought my big olr Dodge Ram 2500HD 4x4 they said only use premium, but I discovered one day it got better mileage and ran better on regular and have used it ever since. I got 142,000 miles out of the original plugs. To this day it gets the same gas mileage 19 highway, not bad for a 6500lb truck, my Jeep gets 22. Regular here is $3.09 to $3.18 gallon.

JS

[SmartWombat]

I heard that it would take about $9 American dollars to buy one gal or 3.8 Liters of gas in the UK

£0.949 per litre today.
So that's $7.21

[SmartWombat]

Smart Roadster.
3 cylinder turbo 699cc
Top recorded speed 130mph
Top racetrack speed 105mph
But that's at 30mpg, I can't make it any worse

[DaveLC2]

Smart Roadster.
3 cylinder turbo 699cc
Top recorded speed 130mph
Top racetrack speed 105mph
But that's at 30mpg, I can't make it any worse

In my opion for gas engines turbos are the way to go. You get the power of a bigger engine with the economy of a smaller engine. Some people are affraid of turbos but if you take care of them and keep fresh oil in there they are just fine. I see your screen name has something to do with your car too The LC2 is the engine code for my project car. The name just kind of stuck with me over the years.

Dave

[swmdrayfan]

Today......$3.13/gal. Tomorrow? Roll the dice.

[JSPhoto]

Today......$3.13/gal. Tomorrow? Roll the dice.

Today, $3.19 gal .... this after oil prices dropped $1.00 a barrel, yet our prices remain the same, OK, it went up a penny from yesterday.....who says the oil companies don't gouge? The price jumps 20 cents a gallon when the price of a barrel goes up a penny, but doesn't drop at the pump when the barrel drops a dollar.....I hope Exon enjoys screwing us......but paybacks are.... well you know.

JS