What is Reddit's opinion of
GasBuddy?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
➔ GasBuddy website
By popularity on Reddit, this Service is:
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
I picked a random one I could check out easily:
> Gas prices lowest in more than 12 years.
Wrong. They were the lowest in mid 2015, and early 2008 before that. Prices have actually been rising since he took office.
Source: http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts
Why do I keep seeing this uncomfortably ridiculous talking point everywhere? Sure gas was cheap the day Obama took over, but it was cheap because our economy exploded.
Here's a look at historical average gas prices over the last 5 years. Gas prices dropped from a historical high of $4.12/gallon in July/August 2008 to the low you pointed out in about 4 months. Can you think of anything at all that would coincide with that precipitous drop in prices?
Fun fact: the national average gas price in July 2008 was hovering near $4.12, which is higher than it's ever been since Obama took office. Of course, it was ridiculously cheaper 10 years ago, but it's not like it's risen to its most dramatic point in history ever since Obama took office. source
Damn Obama for raising Canadian and worldwide gas prices too.
Also, it's cherry picking data
But, who needs facts when we have hate!
Without getting overly complicated it will certainly go up eventually. There are a lot of factors that influence gas price but the simple answer is it is a limited resource that we still have a lot of demand for. To see it in action here are the average gas prices in the US over time. You can see they go up and down quite a bit. These things tend to be cyclical and unless something major changes it will increase in price again.
Edit: The simple answer as to why they are low now is there is a big supply of oil and less demand for it. This combined with the world economy not consuming as much oil due to harder economic times is probably a big factor in why its cheap. This is not the only reason as the oil market is very complicated and can't be explained fully simply.
>The average price for gasoline has zoomed up and down several times under Obama, but it never reached the record $4.11 set in July 2008, under Bush. The highest price posted under Obama was $3.97 in the week ending May 9, 2011. The most recent price is, however, still 82 percent higher than the unusually low average of $1.85 for the week just before Obama first took office, when a worldwide recession was pushing down demand. And it’s 2 percent higher than it was when Obama began his second term in January.
Yeah, so lets take the unusually low price of gas right after it crashed in mid-2008 and use that as the benchmark price to compare current prices to.
Your assertion is incorrect. Prices have come down since then, but they've also gone back up again.
On average, gas prices rose steadily from 2004-2008, with some notable spikes - spikes which were always followed by equally steep drops. Then there was the big spike in 2008 when Ike hit, followed by an even bigger drop, all the way down to prices not seen since 2004. Then things stablized again and prices have remained more-or-less flat since 2011 or so.
In addition, it's almost as if there were some giant financial meltdown just prior to 2009 that caused the price of gas to temporarily plummet.
But I guess if you can completely forget that gas prices had trended over years up to over $4 (and over $5 in many areas) as of the summer of 2008, then this 'joke' might have some sort of a point.
It was a blip. If you remember back to January 2008 they were over $3 per gallon. If you actually look at the chart you will notice that there was a huge drop in prices in the run-up to the election.
First of all, anything being trucked into or out of Groom Lake goes through station 700 and the Nevada Test Site. Nobody uses the dirt road to highway 375 but tourists and a bus from Alamo for local workers.
Secondly, the gas prices on that sign are all kinds of wrong for the claimed date of March 2015. Check gasbuddy.com for price history: http://www.GasBuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=Nevada&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=36&units=us
Third, there's no gas station off highway 95 near Mercury. All three gas stations on 93 are on the west side of the road (Shell in Crystal Springs, and Sinclair and Chevron in Alamo). If this video was shot from a gas station on 93, the convoy would be heading south towards Coyote Springs and I-15, which makes no sense when all Groom road traffic goes through Mercury and the NTS. None of the gas stations on highway 93 have bushes in front of them, and none of them have any structures with lights on the opposite side of the road.
Finally, the original poster of this thread is /u/chrisparanormalroom. The person who posted the video at ufoaliendata is . Could both be the same Chris? And the YouTube channel hosting the video is none other than "ufoaliendata," not the original video recorders. I wonder why OP doesn't list ufoaliendata.com on his list of websites and social media?
Hey Chris, what about this UFO?
I was thinking that this might have been from a previous year because of the gas prices, and then I looked this up. I didn't realize how good I had it, I suppose.
if you look at the US average gas price on GasBuddy.com you can see how the gas price dropped down to a $1.50 in 2008. I'm still not sure if this is from the housing bubble that burst or the fact that It was getting close to election day. Pretty interesting nonetheless
That's not even close to correct. Gasoline prices in the US reached their historic high in July, 2008. They crashed along with the stock market crash in the fall of 2008. The oft quoted number of gasoline prices when Obama was inaugurated is yet another anomaly from the recession of 2007/2008. Gasoline prices rose in tandem with the stock market as it recovered.
Private source: http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx
Government source: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPM0_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W
Let's do this for the US:
The most popular sedan per Kelley Blue Book is the Chevrolet Impala (http://www.kbb.com/most-popular-cars/sedan/2015/1/).
This clocks in at 21 combined MPG, and an MSRP of $27k from google (https://www.google.com/search?q=chevrolet+impala+msrp)
We'll use GasBuddy's average price of gas and put it at $3/gallon. This obviously varies based on state tax and the market (it was much higher last year, and much lower currently. So this is the most fickle stat. At $4/gallon we'll see the annual go up by $1000, and at $2/gallon we'll see the annual go down by $700 (http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts).
We'll use 15,000 for average miles driven a year, so you get 15000 miles / 21 MPG * $3 = $2142 a year. If you assume you can charge your Tesla for free then use that as the cost per year, otherwise subtract down your cost.
But the conclusion should be already obvious. You simply aren't going "make money" buying a luxury Tesla and comparing it to a cheap sedan. If you want to "make money" by dodging gas, you should buy a Prius and see a return in a few years.
To reach an $80k tesla at $27k + 2k a year will take more than 25 years of car ownership.
To reach a $30k prius at 50MPG (which saves $1.2k in gas/year over the Impala), you'll make money in 2-3 years.
To compare a luxury car such as the BMW 6 at 21 MPG for $71k, then $80k catches up with $71k + 2k after 5 years.
Raw gasoline is about $1.10/gallon right now.
Add in costs for taxes (road tax and sales tax), transport, blending in 10% ETOL ($1.31/gallon), and retail and you get your retail price. Here in Minnesota, the retail price dropped from $1.95 to $1.79 this morning. I'm going to guess your taxes and retail costs are probably almost all of that price difference.
Edit: Looking at this map, California does appear to be a bit "special".
8. I'll take gas prices on. The price of gas has fluctuated a lot during the last few years, so making a claim that implies the president caused the price change is rather bold. From what I could find, the price of gas did technically double from when he got into office (~1.70/Gal) to the current price (~3.70/Gal), but that technicality overlooks the giant price crater in that exact time region that he stepped into office. 6 months earler it was at a high of 4.12/Gal. As another fun note, the second term of George Bush's presidency had pretty much the exact same change in gas price.
We need a graph that has the actual percentage rate. I calc'd some of them.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx?cntry=USA
California: 0.7087 / 4.126 = 17.18%
Illinois: 0.5750 / 3.773 = 15.24%
Hawaii: 0.6751 / 4.340 = 15.56%
New York: 0.6797 / 3.910 = 17.38%
Indiana: 0.5709 / 3.602 = 15.85%
Mississippi: 0.3678 / 3.405 = 10.80%
Louisiana: 0.3840 / 3.447 = 11.14%
Missouri: 0.3570 / 3.433 = 10.40%
Alaska: 0.3080 / 4.192 = 7.35%
Nevada: 0.5154 / 3.883 = 13.27%
Washington: 0.5590 / 4.000 = 13.98%
Washington DC: 0.4190 / 3.917 = 10.67%
West Virginia: 54.10 / 3.745 = %14.45
Pennsylvania: 60.20 / 3.750 = 16.05%
Maryland: 41.40 / 3.665 = 11.30%
Virginia: 35.68 / 3.466 = 10.30%
New Jersey: 32.90 / 3.543 = 9.29%
Hell it would probably be even better to remove the tax completely and determine the base price of gas in each state. That would make any gas company shenanigans stand out.
California: 4.126 - 0.7087 = $3.42
Illinois: 3.773 - 0.5750 = $3.20
Hawaii: 4.340 - 0.6751 = $3.66
New York: 3.910 - 0.6797 = $3.23
Indiana: 3.602 - 0.5709 = $3.03
Mississippi: 3.405 - 0.3678 = $3.04
Louisiana: 3.447 - 0.3840 = $3.06
Missouri: 3.433 - 0.3570 = $3.08
Alaska: 4.192 - 0.3080 = $3.89
Nevada: 3.883 - 0.5154 = $3.37
Washington: 4.000 - 0.5590 = $3.45
Washington DC: 3.917 - 0.4190 = $3.50
West Virginia: 3.745 - 0.5410 = $3.20
Pennsylvania: 3.750 - 0.6020 = $3.15
Maryland: 3.665 - 0.4140 = $3.25
Virginia: 3.466 - 0.3568 = $3.11
New Jersey: 3.543 - 0.3290 = $3.21
One must wonder why washington d.c. has such high wholesale gas. New Jersey requires an attendant to fill up your gas, but still has cheaper prices than maryland and new york.
Well they probably had to drive it there and back, the national average was around $3 then, and about 8mpg is pretty common for RVs.
1100*2/8*3 = $825
Seems like a pretty accurate prediction. And if they traveled closer to the 1200 miles, took detours, sped, drove an rv with worse mileage than that or their cost of gas average slightly higher it wouldn't be to hard to hit $950.
Also the 1000 - 1200 mile estimate is low, especially if they're coming from the upper peninsula.
December 2008 gas was $1.59 average in the US.
Reference link: Gasbuddy Avg. US Gas Price Chart
Gasoline/Fuel has the second highest number of people reporting that they are spending more. But gasoline is cheaper than it was a year agp.
But the poll isn't asking if these things cost more; it's asking people if they are spending more. They are not necessarily the same thing.
According to this site, the going rate, today, for gasoline is 208.50 ISK per liter, and for diesel it is 192.20 ISK per liter.
Math About US$6.11 a US gallon for gasoline and US$5.64 a US gallon for diesel.
For comparison, the US average today for gasoline is about US$2.60 a US gallon.
I think some parts of West Texas are under $1.50 a gallon! Here's the current map:
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
Edit: It's $0.396 per liter. There are 3.785 liters to a gallon.
It's the same in Canada, especially with books and gas. America is a bigger market so they pay less.
Example: US Average gas price today is 3.45 / gal according to http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Canadian price is 1.24 / liter
That means Canadians are paying 4.55 / gal
Just let them know that, while it is true that gas was $1.85 when Obama took office; it is also true that gas was $4.12 just 6 months BEFORE Obama took office.
Really?
a) The site won't even load without me providing my location data
b) Once I do allow my location data, you won't let me change my point of origin
c) 11.8 KM/L for a 2009 Fusion? That's almost 30 MPG, I think you meant 11.8 L/100KM, which is the CITY fuel efficiency of a Fusion. The highway efficiency is 8.4, which throws off your calculations by about 40%.
d) You're only only using the cost of the closest station, and assuming all fuel is purchased there. Not many vehicles can hold enough fuel to make it from Regina to Edmonton without topping up. Gasbuddy does it better
Also interesting to note, you're using GasBuddy data without actually crediting GasBuddy (a violation of their API terms). In fact, last time I checked (5 minutes ago) their API isn't currently public, but you're funneling all your calls through your server to hide that. Explains why some cities "aren't supported" as they don't have a specific spinoff site you can scrape your data from.
He fails to correct his guests too. Peter Schiff had an argument about how gas prices were "skyrocketing", while in reality, well:
I recently started listening and mostly enjoy it, I just wish he were more informed and could correct his guests more.
A lot of these things have a pretty wide variance to them. Generally speaking, the closer to New York you want to live, the more expensive it is going to be. Taxes will generally be similar. The further east you go, the cheaper things get, but the further away from civilization you tend to be. Some people prefer that, but it really all comes down to what you're looking for.
The last place I rented was a two bedroom apartment, it cost $930 a month, and the security deposit was one month's rent. It included heat, and hot water, but not electricity, my average electric bill was $40 a month, $60 if I ran the AC, but I tend to be pretty frugal about that sort of thing. This was on the outskirts of Norwich, about as suburban as it gets. Norwich proper doesn't have the best reputation, FWIW. Most of the bigger cities tend to have a good/bad part of town. You really have to call around for this sort of thing because rent, utilities included or not, pet policies, vary pretty widely.
Car insurance depends on what you have, and where you live. I have Progressive, and before I got a new car, I was paying around $90 a month for what I consider good coverage.
I want to say gas is hovering around $2.40 a gallon for regular right now, there are sites that will help you validate that, as there are regional variations. It's been better, it's been worse. I just consider it a fact of life, as I don't have much choice in the matter.
Savings: This is a life philosophy thing more than anything. I like to have 6 months of my baseline cost-of-living in a savings account for emergencies. What that limit is (6 months) and what your baseline cost-of-living is are personal choices. I don't think that amount is awful, but moving can be expensive, and security deposits will put a dent in that too.
Gas was four bucks when Bush was in office, we should stop pretending Obama has anything to do with gas prices.
I'm so tired of seeing this chart. It's not an accurate representation of anything that happened, nor does it include a full picture of the years between Bush and Obama.
Here is the same chart source, with a few more prior years in there: gasbuddy - gas 2006-2012
I wish it went back even a few more years as you'd see they both started and ended with similar numbers.
Only 3 months prior to the $1.61 number, it was $3.87! 6-7 months prior it was $4.12! From the time Bush started and the time Bush ended, the numbers consistently rose over time...to a price even higher than what it has been under Obama. It only dropped to that low number in the very last few months of Bush. Regardless of all of this, gas prices have so many variants that to think this is the result of the president's action in an active time-frame is ridiculous.
>Gas is 1.59/litre in vancouver this morning, partially due to BC's carbon tax but also due to zero investor confidence in Trudeau's ability to push through the KM pipeline. Another factor is the decreasing supply of Canadian oil as companies have limited means to get their product to market and are taking their investment dollars and assets elsewhere.
Well that's just wishful speculation on your part that only neglects the reality that gas in the lower mainland has been $1.35-1.45 for years and this is not the first time they have crossed $1.50 (although I'm going to straight up say that my chart doesn't catch this as it's a monthly average, but if you go back 4 years it was >~~1.59~~ 1.50, fat fingers on my side, in the summer under Harper). The price rise is common with winter-summer gas shifts, scheduled shutdowns reducing capacity, and larger capacity issues in the US and in the Burnaby refinery. The gas price in Vancouver tracks roughly with the price in SK .
I'm sure the CTF neglected to admit Australia's largest emissions drop in a decade. Why don't you link to an actual analysis... oh wait, because you're trying to spin.
Using rising gas prices as a justification suggests that you're not thinking clearly about this decision. Gas prices are low, and they're getting lower. See http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts. Switch to the 5-year view to cover the entire time someone in college has been legal to drive.
If you buy an expensive car in college, your 30-year-old self will not look back kindly at your 20-year-old self.
If you want to go green, study more and drive less.
I had to laugh when one of the images states:
"Remember how cheap gas prices were between 2013-2016 it was ridiculous wasn't it?"
No it wasn't 2013 until more than halfway thru 2014 we experienced some of our highest prices ever.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts
AND THEN running up to the election of 2016 prices became better (as they always do before a presidential election/ to quell the publics thirst for real change)
- $8 for gas via Gas Buddy
- $8 for a lite breakfast
- $2 for a coffee
- $2 for a tip
So $20 is fair, especially if you're worried about making it good. Generally I'd be happy if a friend just paid for the breakfast before I gave them a ride. Nice to get goodbye time.
It's not a tax, but a fee in a way on the oil companies. Who will just pass it down. Just mess with the name of stuff can change there views.
Used gasbuddy then did the math to find out what we pay over the average. Right now $2.474 is the average with California gas being $3.301. So our gas is $0.827 more then the average. So let say the tax on avg is $0.15, and for our special gas we pay $0.16 more. What is the other $0.51?
This is all just using average gas so may just be because of that.
That's interesting because in this historical chart the sharp drop in price seems to start in august or sepember of 2008 and hit it's low point very early in 2013. So you are correct. The economy took a dump months after Bush rescinded the EO ban. But gas prices didn't start dropping until a few months later as well. Your narrative doesn't match history.
I really had to laugh when I heard people complain about the price of gas in the US.
According to gasbuddy you pay $3.39 per gallon at the moment, for "regular", which I think is 87 octane ?
A gallon is 3.78 litres, so that's 0.89 USD per litre.
In New Zealand, I pay $2.17 NZD for a litre 91 octane, which is 1.81USD per litre, or $6.84 USD for a gallon.
I argue with people about that all the time. No one remembers paying $4.25 a gallon August 2008, they just remember paying $1.86 just before Obama "destroyed the country" in January 2009. How convenient. But when I show them this, I'm just a stupid liberal.
[](/b03) It's a product of how much gas prices went down after the recession. Food didn't.
Even though gas rises faster in price, and used to be much higher than food, it took a very sharp dip in price at the end of 2008 (Graph)
You're probably recalling times before 2009 when gas was at a very high price compared to food. After that drop it's easy to see food's inflation managing to overtake total cost from gas.
But if you look at current inflation rates gas has been seeing around a 9% increase per year in price. Food is around a 3.5% inflation rate.
Wont be long before gas is on top again.
Another cause on the individual level is the age of your family. As children in the family grow older, spending on food will increase because they eat more. Children around the age of 14-16 (especially boys) have the fastest growing appetites, and thus increase the food costs the most. They're also too young to drive, meaning they wouldn't contribute to the family's gas expenditures.
In another 2 years though when they're out driving like mad the new increase in gas cost would probably offset more of the food cost as well.
So if you have a lot of family members around the age of 14-16 now and are recalling periods from four years ago or more, the family food cost would be much lower.
Finally, if the family in question has improved their income and standard of living purchasing higher quality food and spending more on that would be understandable. But an increase in income would not show as much of an increase in spending on gas prices.
That is to say, food can be viewed as a luxury product. Gas is a commodity.
If you hate it so much, do something about it or leave. I am very happy with where I live. My school is fine, my area is beautiful, my people are nice. If it upsets you so much to live in South Carolina, there are other places in every direction. I just ask you to try not to misrepresent my state.
Good things:
Multiple great universities and colleges
Weather
Courteous People (Generally speaking, of course)
Low crime rates (http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/sc/crime/#data)
(Relatively) Low gas prices (http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Map_Gas_Prices.aspx) -zoom out and you can see a map of comparison.
I could go on all day, brother, but I assume you get my point.
If you look at the Gasbuddy Gas Price Heatmap, you'll see prices are low in the Heartland, increasing toward the coasts.
My best guess is that the high-producing refineries—as well as ports for receiving international oil—are in the Gulf Coast area, so prices are low there, but the cost of shipping/trucking the oil farther from these locations raises the price of gas. Also, while there are refineries in nearby California and Washington, these most likely operate using domestic oil, which is at a higher price—due to overhead. labor and other factors—than the deflated prices of OPEC crude. These factors combine to leave Idaho in a middle position price-wise (lower than California, Alaska and parts of Washington).
Or could be this other Shell station just down the road also on McKinney Ave. And yeah it's massive price gouging because they are the only gas stations in the area that far south into Uptown near Downtown.
Pretty much all of your complaints only apply if you're commuting from outside the City and prefer a car-centric lifestyle. Which is fine. Lots of people like that. But there's evidence that younger folks are swinging back the other way.
The idea of a sea of free parking at an office park in Maryland Heights and lunch at a drive-thru window (that I had to drive to on my lunch break) makes me want to put a gun to my head.
But to each their own.
(Just as an aside, gas is not $0.30 more expensive in the City than in the County. It's usually a few cents more, if that. See here: http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?search=63103)
Let's just check the charts then!
In 2014, $55,000 bought you ~15,363 gallons of gasoline.
In 2024, $55,000 bought you ~1,876 gallons of gas.
In 2035, $55,000 buys you 185 gallons of gas.
(Warning: not adjusted for inflation)
I don't know, but an electric car seems like it might be a good investment!
Source: http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx
2014 $3.58 2015 $4.42 2016 $5.45 2017 $6.73 2018 $8.30 2019 $10.24 2020 $12.64 2021 $15.60 2022 $19.25 2023 $23.75 2024 $29.31 2025 $36.17 2026 $44.63 2027 $55.08 2028 $67.97 2029 $83.87 2030 $103.50 2031 $127.71 2032 $157.60 2033 $194.48 2034 $239.99 2035 $296.14
> Not only is the Canadian Dollar currently worth more than the American Dollar, the price of oil is actually much, much lower than it was last year when the price of gas spiked up to $1.35 per litre — 30% lower in fact — the price for a barrel of oil is currently 100 dollars, compared to 140 a year ago.
Lies. Even Clement was quoted saying it hit $140 "last year" which is simply false. Oil was below $100 from October 2008 until this March. It hit $140 in July 2008.
C$ was just under par at that time, and gas prices were at their peak then (slightly higher than they are now).
Sources:
http://quotes.post1.org/historical-crude-oil-price-chart/
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=CAD&to=USD&view=5Y
According to GasBuddy, over the last three months gas prices have gone up significantly as the US Average and where I live.
I had never noticed this so I was curious and looked it up. The data doesn't show spikes around holidays at least as far as the US is concerned. Maybe it's something specific to your area?
Historically, they do lower after summer within a reasonable margin assuming no market volatility, but if there is some grander market volatility, then we're talking about margins larger than 10 cents. If you're talking about a 10 cent increase in the peak of summer, then we're having a conversation about normal trends. (take a look for yourself, but keep in mind the market factors of the time period you're looking at) If you have a larger economic point to make about oil prices that is outside of the realm of 'exactly what happens almost every year since forever', then go ahead and make it.
GasBuddy Lets you select the grade you want the price of although, as a fellow premium only driver, the difference at most places isn't enough to care about, ~~and driving to a place to get cheap gas is hardly worth the trip or effort IMO. Just get gas at a place thats on your route and don't sweat paying a bit more of the convenience~~.
Edit just out of curiosity I checked the differences at various stations around the Fremont/Ballard area. Yeah the differences between locations is crazy, I'm seeing anything from $4.129 to $2.499, so yeah it's probably not a bad deal to at least check a few easy-to-hit locations to save $2/gal (thats like $30 a tank on an average fill-up for me).
Also if you really care about the car you should check the owners manual, a lot of premium cars list the gas providers they deem worthy, or the ones the don't deem worthy. Weather there is really a difference IDK, and personally I get gas from the approved list because it's the closest to my house and en-route, not because it's on the list.
It's probably Canadian dollars, which comes to .83 USD./L or 3.14 USD/gal
In Alberta, it's .56 USD/L or 2.14 USD/gal
Source: Gas stations around here, also gasbuddy (and math)
Also of note: http://www.energy.alberta.ca/Oil/pdfs/FSGasolinePrices.pdf specifically this
I don't see how a $2.00 threshold in particular is inherently relevant
If you chart the last 6 months of USA Average and compare it to crude oil prices, you can see how it trends similarly. Crude oil hasn't dipped below $40/barrel until a couple weeks ago, and gas prices are sticky.
Any asymmetry IS explained in that Fed article through market power and supply shocks.
>According to economists Severin Borenstein, A. Colin Cameron and Richard Gilbert, two major factors cause asymmetric pass-through: seller market power and supply chain shocks.
>Seller market power implies that retail gasoline markets are not perfectly competitive: Opportunities exist for retailers to take advantage of price changes to maintain a higher overall profit. For example, Borenstein, Cameron and Gilbert noted that retailers increased gasoline prices as oil prices rose to keep a constant margin. When prices fell, retailers adjusted prices downward slower because consumers were already accustomed to the higher prices.
Lets assume that we're talking about a sleepy town where very little happens.
During the peak/daylight 12 hour shift, an officer will patrol or answer calls and drive a minimum of 150 miles.
During the off-peak/nighttime 12 hour shift, an officer will patrol or answer calls and drive a minimum of 75 miles.
Your average Chevy Tahoe gets about 15 MPG.
Your average Harley Electra Glide (police motorcycle) gets about 40 MPG
Average yearly cost of gas in the US is about $3 - give or take where you are
So now it's just math.
225 miles / 15 mpg = 15 gallons * $3 per gallon = $45.00 Daily expense
225 miles / 40 mpg = 5.6 gallons * $3 per gallon = $16.80 Daily expense
This represents a $28.20 daily savings on gas alone. Based on your estimate that a motorcylce can be used 5 months out of the year, that becomes $4,288.75 saved.
Retail value for the motorcycle is $22K, though - for many different reasons - the police department would not wind up paying full retail and as a result, their price would be at a maximum $15K per bike.
In conclusion, the gas savings alone make it so that the bike would pay for itself in 3 years, but will almost certainly be used for up to 10 years and then sold. We haven't even begun to discuss the depreciation of a Chevy Tahoe with repeated use, nor the ability to get to where they need to be through traffic, nor the exorbitant expense of expediting a repair on your only vehicle.
If you were to scale this up from a sleepy town to the NYPD where a vehicle patrols for hundreds of ~~hours~~ edit; miles on a given day, the benefits become increasingly visible.
Whoa, I never realized how much state gas taxes varied.
I've always wondered why when the news reports "Gas prices are as low as $X," gas prices near me always seem so much higher. But it looks like the difference in price between my state (PA) and the cheapest state (Oklahoma) is very close to the difference in price between my state's gas tax and Oklahoma's gas tax.
I always wondered why it apparently seemed to cost so much more to ship gas to PA than the surrounding states, but now this makes sense!
I just did a quick search and in Edmonton there is a Costco at 76.9.
http://www.edmontongasprices.com/
You can scroll down on this page http://www.gasbuddy.com/ and click on your province under find cheap gas prices in Canada.
The last three years have seen gas prices rise and fall at pretty much equal rates, but they have trended slightly downward. Overall trends in the 20th century were a fall in real gas prices, until about the end of the century, where the rise of China's economy probably drove up commodity prices worldwide.
First off, there's no "secret" to save money on gas - you're just going to have to do a little research.
Certain credit cards have cash back promos for gas stations. Chase Freedom has rotating categories that give 5% back during different quarters of the year, and gas stations are always at least one or two quarters. Sites like Nerd Wallet help you decide which card is best for you.
Other than that, you can always use Gas Buddy to monitor gas stations along your driving route. Or just start noticing for yourself - if you pass a particular station everyday that seems to always be cheaper than others, keep that in mind. Central city gas stations are always more expensive than stations out in the 'burbs.
That's more per gallon in taxes alone than the highest average price per gallon total in the US.
> Gas Price Report
>
US Low | US Average | US High
---|---|----
$3.350 | $3.645 | $4.332
South Carolina | Average | Hawaii
http://www.gasbuddy.com/
The President can't realistically control gas prices, something even Fox News espoused just 4 years ago
But, additionally, gas is about the same price now as it was in summer 2008.
Depending on where you draw the line this is actually a semi-true statement but disingenuous. Per your article if you start when Obama actually took office (2009) Retail gasoline rested at $2.353 on average for that year and now resides at $3.521. Granted, gas price increases with the economy so you can attribute the low price to the recession crash which occurred in 2008. Is it Obama's fault? Not really. Did prices increase under Obama? Yes but really they returned to what they were mostly at on average before the crash.
Additionally, you can reference Gas Buddy which claims gas was at ~$1.90 in February 2009.
http://www.GasBuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USAAverage&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=60&units=us gas prices dropped in an epic way when the economy tanked. They were at a historic low when Obama was inaugurated. If a republican was in office they would be saying that rising gas prices are a sign of a recovering economy.
Sometimes I feel like everyone conveniently forgot how bad gas prices were before our current president was elected.
GasBuddy (click 4 years)
Stay on Topic.
Highest gas prices in the last 6 years happend on Bush's watch. Gas prices are effected by region, so you may not have seen the $4.50-$5.00 range for a gallon. I did and here is the evidence:
Gas prices follow Oil prices pretty closely: Chart
The cartels do control most of the supply, but they do not control the price. End-consumers and commodity traders have much more control over that. Just like the price of gold, if traders think the commodity is either harder to obtain or worth more, the price goes up (and vice versa).
If they could control price, you'd never see the huge spike from $140 down to $40.
what's funny is $2.09 wasn't bad at all for early 2008, when the game came out.
I just looked up the average gas price around the world to get some perspective on how much we are paying in comparison.
Everything is in NZD
California - $0.81/L London - $2.30/L Sydney - $1.48/L Auckland - $2.02/L (I just filled up)
I mean, it's not the worst... but I can't argue with people arguing for me to pay less...
[edit: the guy I responded to was not actually saying the motorist was missing out on $8 I misunderstood]
I hear what you are saying, but the motorist is not missing out on an $8 burrito. The cost passed on to the motorist ends up being like $.34 per fillup.
Oregon gas, while more expensive than most states is still cheaper than it's neighbors on the coast to the north and the south. It is about 6% more expensive than Idaho, it's neighbor to the east.
And remember, while the gas is overall cheaper than the surrounding states, it's also pumped for you. You pay less and get more service!
I don't know if the program is good or bad, but the consumer does not seem to be suffering.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4
We're expensive compared to the states surrounding us, but we're still better off then the entire west coast.
I'm not denying that our gas taxes are relatively high and that our roads suck, but that's not the point. Even if we're more expensive than our neighbors, current gas prices are cheap by any reasonable standard.
Use this website with your location : http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Run like the wind to the most accessible and latest posted prices maybe? I couldn't find a central reporting arena that shows just gasoline outages.
Sheesh, what'd you guys do on the west coast to piss off the gas price gods?! I just looked more specifically at San Diego on Gas Buddy and I see prices from as low as $2.35 all the up to $3.89! All of Calfornia and most of Washington are just bit red splotches on that map. Even Chicago maxes out around $2.40 and they used to be about the highest in the country.
He's right, also states already set their own minimum wage based upon the cost of living. Some states have a higher cost of living than others. States like California and New York have a much higher cost of living than say South Carolina or Texas. Gas in California is insanely high for example because of the taxes that go no where except into the pockets of crooked politicians and organized crime. This is why the minimum wage has to be much higher in that state.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=5&lng=-84.88157121035375&lat=29.237779658789215
- New England electricity is expensive during the wintertime (I hear), so you may want to just make the wintertime trips with a gas vehicle anyways. Are the quick chargers near you CCS (VW eGolf) or CHAdeMO (Leaf, Kia Soul) or both?
- Worries over quick charging degradation seem to have been somewhat premature. Real world testing shows a few percent extra battery lost over 40k miles on a vehicle that was ONLY charged with CHAdeMO vs a vehicle ONLY charged with 3 kW AC. Charging every now and then shouldn't be concerning.
- Gas prices are low today, due to overproduction (essentially economic war between shale oil producers and arab oil producers). Do you think it will stay low over the car's lifetime? Look at historical data for your area. And cost of ownership is as much reduced due to reduced maintenance as it is due to cheaper "fuel".
- Consider carefully your needs and whether current electric vehicles (including the just announced 2016 LEAF, which has 25% more range on the higher trims) meet those needs. If they don't meet your needs then don't buy! If they meet most of your needs and your remaining gas vehicle can service the occasional outlier trips, then go ahead and start looking! You may also want to consider lease options, which would remove the obsolescence concern.
No, please be snarky. The cross in oil v gas is inexplicable given the historical trend. They usually rise and fall together, but as you note, gas has stayed put this time around while oil has crashed like a rock.
The drop in the price of oil is having an affect on the price of gas. Gas is cheaper this summer than at the same time last summer when oil was $100 a barrel. You can check out Gasbuddy.com for a chart that plots the price of crude oil compared to gasoline. Gas prices don't always tack directly along with the price of oil. No on complains when the price of oil skyrockets yet the price of gas stays the same.
There are basic market forces that explain why gasoline prices aren't falling with the price of oil. People are taking advantage of the cheaper gas this summer. AAA reports that this summer has seen a noticeable uptick in the number of vacation miles being driven than in past few years. The increase in demand has caused prices to bounce back up. Also, summer blends of gasoline are traditionally more expensive since they require more refining and reformulation to reduce what they call 'volatility'; or in other words the propensity for gasoline as a liquid to evaporate into a vapor. When September hits the refiners switch back over to the cheaper winter blends and people go back to work and school. So we should see a drop in fuel prices here here in the near future.
I don't know what you're talking about. Premium Gas is below $3, even in NYC and California, Unemployment has been dropping all year and as of September, we're under 6% nationwide, and 15 million Americans that didn't have health care before the Affordable Care Act now have coverage.
The Obama Administration hasn't done shit and no matter how sound your argument or the facts that you have to back it up, I'm going to keep my head in the sand about his entire Presidency.
In addition to what obsa says about research/machine average, this machine may also be at altitude. In Colorado, for instance, pumps typically dispense 82, 85, and 91. If you take the price shown and x10 it would also correspond well with the typical prices in the mountain west, too.
Err you do realize that Obama began in January 2009 right?
You're also ignoring the fact that Bush had a high of $4.12 which was greater than any time under Obama. Also the low wasn't Bush's doing - it was the fact that crude oil prices experienced a huge drop and it began at the start of the Obama presidency which is why the Republicans are trying to blame him to lure the favor of idiots that have no context or education on the matter.
It's pure spin however way you put it.
Edit: In response to the NYTimes article you mentioned, America was experiencing the highest gas prices in years so of course Bush was talking about drilling. The public was pissed at him.
This one?
doctechnical is 100% fucking right, yet he is continually down-voted because you progressives don't like these particular facts.
Edited link to point to the specific graph I wanted it to, instead of the generic graph page.
This chart suggests that they move up and down pretty much with the same lag (and a large smoothing function) regardless.
(There is a checkbox to show oil prices as well... I couldn't figure out how to get that on in the link).
If prices remain below $100 for another 7-10 days, there will be significant declines in price.
Remember that gas prices are usually much smoother than oil prices, and gas prices lag by about a week to 10 days. This price swing has been so dramatic that it started to affect the gas market (in a very subtle way) after only 3 days.
Interesting, could you say a little more about the costs of production being very high? I would like to hear about it.
CARB gasoline processing adds c. $0.10 per gallon. ~4.50 per barrel of oil if all 45 gallons of distillate product from the 42 gallon barrel was CARB, which it isn't. Like everything else, the bulk of the cost of a gallon of gas is by far the cost of oil, and gas tax.
California also has special gas taxes and recently moved gasoline under their cap and trade program. These add up to WAY more than CARB costs. California gasoline costs more because: higher gas tax ($0.20 per gal), some cap and trade program (~$0.10 per gal).
California refineries (Washington too, but Bakken Rail unloading is in progress) interestingly lacks access to discounted oil that say a Midwest refiner might have. As oil prices drop and the glut increases, the discount between WTI and what oil you can by gets less and less. Hence you end up with this: http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap
Interestingly, one byproduct of CARB production as you mention is that only Cali refineries produce the gasoline. Therefore, unscheduled outages from a fire or some processing event can very much introduce demand shocks. While this is indirectly caused by having only a few producers of CARB gasoline, there is the ability to bring in non CARB gasoline in the event of a prolonged outage.
https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/why-are-californias-gasoline-prices-so-high/
I know blaming regulation is fun... but sometimes you get things from that regulation (less smog as /Knute5 reminisces). Sometimes, it's just straight taxes that make something more expensive than "Midwest State" but you also get tax revenue to do things AND said taxes can be repealed if the population did not want. Regulation itself isn't always the reason stuff costs prohibitively more.
How long are planning to drive across the U.S.? You said 6-12 months to Brazil but what portion of that is this leg of the journey?
Check http://www.gasbuddy.com/TripCostCalculator for tentative fuel cost for your journey. Obviously depending on the number of stops you make, that will affect your cost.
Where will you be staying when you do not sleep in the van? I'm sure every few days you will want a shower. Do you know about CouchSurfing? Or AirBnB? You could also stay in a campground with shower facilities. Once in a while you may wanna shell out bucks for a fancy hotel maybe even just one night on the trip.
Are you going to eat out every day? If you're doing long term, I suggest getting a jet boil and/or a simple camp stove so you can cook your own meals every once in a while. It's cheaper to grocery shop even if you don't cook the food vs. eating out for every meal. A lot of grocery stores have a little deli/cafe area with a microwave, so if you buy a cheap microwaveable meal($1-$6) you can eat there, plus you can get fresh fruits and veggies. Eating out for every meal adds up very fast. Fast food meals can be around $4-$10. I have never been to Aus but I imagine the food costs can be somewhat comparable. Also, it's healthier to make your own food.
Where do you want to go? The U.S. is huge and I'm sure being from Aus you can appreciate the scale. You could make a straight shot across the country or meander in a westerly direction.
Check out http://www.roadtripamerica.com a good site with lots of road trip resources.
Check the /r/vandwellers sub. Those people are doing it very long term but you could learn some pointers about a month or more spent in a van. Also /r/roadtrip
All of these factors affect your cost. Go here to get an estimate of what you might be spending once you figure out some of these points http://www.shareyourride.net/roadtrip/
That's not true. Nationally, the price has been steadily dropping for the past month. It's 20¢ cheaper than last month and almost a dollar cheaper than it was at this time last year.
Not just that but the state has tons of regulations on carbon which drives the price of gas up. Yet they think theres some sort of evil big oil conspiracy to jack up the price when the rest of the 45 states in the mainland have gas under $3.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap
Reminds me of 2007 when people were blaming "hurr durr big oil" for the high price of gas.
> aqui em SP anda por volta de R$3,1,
Aqui em Brasília encontra-se de 3,54 a 3,61. No entorno da capital tem a 3,4x, mas a viagem não compensa.
> mesmo se fosse R$3,6 ela ainda não estaria tão cara comparada com o preço mundial.
O governo fica repetindo essa mentira e as pessoas acreditam. É fácil ver a mentira, confira:
U$ 2,59 o galão
1 galão = 3,785 litros
U$ 2,59 = 3,785 litros
U$ 0,68 = 1 litro
R$ 2,31 por litro, nos Estados Unidos
O povo não sabe fazer conta matemática, por isso não enxerga que está pagando 57% a mais que o povo dos Estados Unidos.
E tem mais: a gasolina americana é unleaded e sem álcool, a renda per capita deles é o triplo da nossa, e os carros deles custam um terço dos nossos.
You're right. It's been about $3.50 in my state for FOUR YEARS, not two.
Protip with links, over your mouse over it and you can see where the link goes to. This is important because hyperlinking exists.
For example, gas prices are only about a dollar in the US! http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Here's a map of current gas prices.
Probably the biggest factor in haveing a sub-$3 price is the amount of road tax each state charges. It's very evident which states have lower taxes than their neighbors (e.g. NJ, VA, MO, MN, OH).
While I agree that rates should be going up, gas prices isn't the best platform to base that argument. Over the last three months gas prices have been on a steep decline and have remained relatively flat over the last 12 months. Even over the last two years there has only been a net increase of about ten cents per gallon.
it is a fact...
NJ and OR have higher gas prices than most other states.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx
also, pumping your own gas is not the only factor in the actual pump price. the question you should ask is, how much less would the cost of gasoline be in my state if there werent the nanny state mandate in effect?
why doesnt nj and or simply allow a choice to fuel consumers?
also, you have failed to address the issue of how this simple "law" assumes that nj and or consumers are too goddamn stupid to pump their own gas, and that those citizens need a govt. overlord to protect them from themselves.
OR... instead of listening to a local Tea Party supporter we could actually look at gas prices for the last 6 years and see how much bullshit the Republican party is spouting.
They're basically saying that Gas Prices doubled in the last 4 years - it's somewhat of an exaggeration, but only because oil hit a huge low at the start of Obama's presidency in 2009 after a high of $5.38 just 3 months ahead of that period.
It's pure spin.
The Washington Times? Really?
Also, that article cites GasBuddy, whose own five-year chart shows that there was a dramatic drop in gas prices at the end of 2008, but only after they climbed higher than they've ever been in June of that year.
Also also, I'd wager that huge swaths of oil-producing nations suddenly being engulfed in revolutions probably had more to do with the price of oil than whatever nebulous schemes you think "Bammy" was plotting in his den of evil.
I would've considered flying, because you're going to spend three or four days of your trip driving and 1500 miles each way is a long ass haul.
But check this out: http://www.gasbuddy.com/TripCostCalculator
On road trips like this (even though this one is exceptionally long), I would've expected everybody in the car, including the driver, to split gas. This almost never happens.
I've been the person driving my car in nearly every road trip I've taken, and I always ended up paying for gas. I guess it's all about managing your expectations.
Oh and drive safe. That's a long trip, don't drive drunk or tired please.
Some actual data which is cool http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts
I'm quite impressed that you installed it yourself; props! I wish I could do that. Once I changed the brake light switch on my Audi. It took me three hours, the guy in the youtube video did it in 2 minutes.
Gas prices do track crude oil prices, but of course its not a 1:1 relationship.
Gas price: http://www.gasbuddy.com/Charts
WTI crude price: http://ycharts.com/indicators/crude_oil_spot_price
Note that both show a steady decline from July '14, bottoming out in mid January '15, with a gentle rise until another mild drop in mid-March, followed by a slight increase that peaks in mid June '15.
Not Canadian:
- The average high is 79F (26C) and average low is 57F (14C) So it's very similar to your weather right now in July.
- You can use this site to calculate the cost of gas for your trip http://www.gasbuddy.com/TripCostCalculator
- As long as your cards have no foreign transaction fees for being used outside of Canada you should have no problem using your card for everything. It's really a matter of preference though.
> Neither does the price of gas.
Uh, yes it does. Gas prices fell 50% between July 2014 and January 2015. They remain about 26% lower at the current price (because oil bounced off its low earlier in the year).
Jet fuel prices likewise fell 43% earlier in the year which was reflected by sharply lower operating costs for domestic airlines.
GasBuddy (available on all mobile platforms, as well as via their website)
I'm not sure it fills the need of advance warning by integrating into your planned route, but you can manually look on the map in the area you intend to be in ahead of time, and it'll give you all the gas stations and their currently-reported prices there. I use it daily.
Alright, so a couple of things need to happen, in order for this to work:
Gas prices would have to be way higher than $4 a gallon. Gas back in '08 was $4.11 on July 7th which was tough, but didn't make people start oil wells in their back yards. For the Grand Canyon to lose its protective status, you'll have to have oil prices rise to well over $100 per barrel. Somewhere around the range of $6-$8 a gallon.
Since this is a Middle East war, OPEC would be involved. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the top two oil producing countries in the Middle East one would assume that either side are involved in a war. Most likely, the Saudi's would be involved, since most of our oil comes from them. Maybe a Shia-Sunni war between Saudi Arabia and Iran?
Because it is in an election year, everybody and their mother would comment on this. Republicans would be willing to drill in the Grand Canyon, while Democrats would be willing to drill, but not in the Grand Canyon--most likely up in a national park in Alaska.
A minority of Republican and Democrats, along with most Independents and Environmentalists would have a fit. Nothing would be done until after the election, but if they decide to drill in the Grand Canyon, there might be some eco-terrorists attacking the oil wells or the personnel.
> Inflation is a measure of everything, not just food. Been to the gas pumps lately?
- Sure have, despite a slight repreive last week where I am currently it has gone up near 0.10 a litre.
> I remember back on Digg when u/caferrrell and the other Paultards were promising $10 a gallon gas.
- "Paultards", and I think I have found the lost nolibertarians... However, to your point, I remember the usual war mongering foolsclaiming how they were correct when gas collapsed, and spoke the same way you are at the end of 08, while remaining very quiet as it rose again, and here you are, after another significant drop spouting the same..
If you go to http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx
You will see what I am talking about..
>The death of the U.S Dollar, yet another of their fairy tales.
- And all that has taken is a couple of wars to keep that myth going, but because timing is off, doesn't mean the theory is.
>Don't sweat the small stuff.
- The small stuff is all anyone can afford anymore.
Yeah, checked GasBuddy after reading this article. Gas prices are up 4-5% across the country since last week.
I still think $200 per barrel is a little far-fetched, but I think we've already hit bottom on gas prices.
If anyone's curious to see a more ineractive (and more accurate/detailed) map, take a look at this site (where the original image is from). You can actually see the prices of indivudal gas stations! Super helpful!
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
On a more personal note, today is the day that gas finally fell below $2.00 in Seattle! At least at my one local gas station that is conveniently the cheapest in the city. $1.99 and falling!