The premium for premium

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by dradernh

I think Costco is the cheapest top tier gasoline here, too. GasBuddy.com says that 45 minutes ago premium was $3.52 at the Costco nearest me.

That's 15 miles away, though, and in a direction I almost never go. The Shell station two blocks away gets my business; V-Power is $3.95 there right now.

That’s the reason I go to my Chevron; just a few blocks from my house.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

...
You may be old when you remember there being a $0.05 difference between the grades and when diesel was the cheapest.

You may be old if you remember gas wars and $.259 a gallon regular. There was no premium, it was ethyl or high-test!

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

You may be old if you remember gas wars and $.259 a gallon regular. There was no premium, it was ethyl or high-test!

I’ll get off your lawn. But I do remember when gas first hit $1.00 a gallon. The pumps only went up to 99 cents. They started selling by 1/2 gallon until they could fix/recalibrate the pumps.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I’ll get off your lawn. But I do remember when gas first hit $1.00 a gallon. The pumps only went up to 99 cents. They started selling by 1/2 gallon until they could fix/recalibrate the pumps.

But do you remember the last time it was under $1 per gallon?

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I’ll get off your lawn. But I do remember when gas first hit $1.00 a gallon. The pumps only went up to 99 cents. They started selling by 1/2 gallon until they could fix/recalibrate the pumps.

When I left on my 1st WESTPAC gas was ~mid-$.40's a gallon. Got back 9 months later and it was in the $.80 range! I was in culture shock!

[iminhell1]

Looks like 1999 was the last time it fell under a dollar.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/Le...te_nus_dpg&f=m

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I’ll get off your lawn. But I do remember when gas first hit $1.00 a gallon. The pumps only went up to 99 cents. They started selling by 1/2 gallon until they could fix/recalibrate the pumps.

When I was working my night job at a gas station back when I was in college, the price kept bouncing between $0.98 and $1.01 almost every day for weeks. I had to change the plastic gears in each pump whenever the dollar price boundary was crossed, because there were no provisions in those mechanical fuel pumps to change the dollar setting with the price per gallon levers.....

[cmyx6go]

Interesting difference in spreads NY vs NJ. The Shell from yesterday was in NY. Exxon in central NJ just now -
Regular $3.50
Plus $4.49
Super $4.59

So only 10 cent spread between Plus and Super but $1.00 between Regular and Plus

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Shell this morning.
Regular $3.61
Plus $4.11
V-Power $4.61

You may be old when you remember there being a $0.05 difference between the grades and when diesel was the cheapest.

[vreihen16]

Don't tell anyone, but "plus" is nothing more than a profit center, playing to people's guilt about buying regular and their thrift from not buying super!

I will let you do the octane cost math on the above prices, when the typical offerings are 87, 89, and 93 in your area.....

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Don't tell anyone, but "plus" is nothing more than a profit center, playing to people's guilt about buying regular and their thrift from not buying super!

I will let you do the octane cost math on the above prices, when the typical offerings are 87, 89, and 93 in your area.....

I always do 93 and honestly never really looked at the different prices on grades until this post. I thought it odd that in NY the spread was $0.60 and in NJ it was $1.00.

[KevinC]

Regular down to $2.59 here in Tucson. Good times. Keep drilling!!!

[freakystyly]

Our 87 to 91 gap is usually around 30-40c and 91 to 93 gap around 3c. (per liter)

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

Two questions on the premium gas stations charge for premium gas:
1. What are you seeing?
2. What is reasonable?

Been doing a lot of driving lately. TN to CA and back, just got back from Cincy, etc. We usually prefer Shell premium (car requires 91, Shell here is 87, 89, 93) because it has been consistently good and we have their rewards ($0.10 off all grades, occasionally $0.20 off).

I’ve pulled in to a number of stations with a competitive price on the sign only to find midgrade and premium to be much more. Last night mid was $1.00 more than regular and premium was another $1.00 on top of that. Today I filled up and the premium from regular to 93 was $0.80, which I still think is high. Regular price here is around $2.79 +/- now for reference.

I feel like $0.40-0.60 is a reasonable spread from regular to 93 and I find that at my usual stations. But I’m seeing these super-premia more and more.

Doesn’t sound like much but one fill up at more than a $2.00 premium meant over $30 for the tank in just extra pricing.

I’m guessing this must have mostly been in Cali. I started a thread similar to this a couple of years ago and it went completely off the rails with people concerned I was complaining about having to buy premium gas for my car. Generally in Chicago proper premium is $1 higher than regular and sometimes slightly more than $1 higher. In the suburbs the spread may be slightly less. I remember well in Texas when there was only a 20 cent premium for premium. Then it started growing, but the biggest spread I remember from back then was about 40 or 50 cents. Back when I posted my thread the price difference had rather suddenly increased to between 80 cents and $1. Since then it has stayed steady at a $1 difference. I now buy at Costco and the savings is generally between 80 cents and $1 over regular gas stations. The last couple of times it has been a $1 difference.

[chassis]

Paid $3.97 for 93 octane premium, Top Tier today. It's been a long time since that happened.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

I’m guessing this must have mostly been in Cali. I started a thread similar to this a couple of years ago and it went completely off the rails with people concerned I was complaining about having to buy premium gas for my car. Generally in Chicago proper premium is $1 higher than regular and sometimes slightly more than $1 higher. In the suburbs the spread may be slightly less. I remember well in Texas when there was only a 20 cent premium for premium. Then it started growing, but the biggest spread I remember from back then was about 40 or 50 cents. Back when I posted my thread the price difference had rather suddenly increased to between 80 cents and $1. Since then it has stayed steady at a $1 difference. I now buy at Costco and the savings is generally between 80 cents and $1 over regular gas stations. The last couple of times it has been a $1 difference.

Actually Calif is so shockingly high I didn’t notice the spread there. AZ on I40 just coming into the state from CA was really high. The recent one I posted was in Richmond, KY. Once I started looking, I’ve seen wide spreads in many places - and narrow ones as well. Which is why I asked if widening spreads is becoming “normal”.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

Looks like 1999 was the last time it fell under a dollar.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/Le...te_nus_dpg&f=m

Right.

It's worth noting that a single March, 1999 dollar is equivalent to $1.86 in November, 2023 dollars:

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

[iminhell1]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Right.

It's worth noting that a single March, 1999 dollar is equivalent to $1.86 in November, 2023 dollars:

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

If only the MPG inflation had kept pace ... LOL