I just came across gasbuddy.com where you can search your region (like Salt Lake for instance) for low gas prices. They also show you the highest gas prices, although I can’t think of how those are of much use. Maybe it’s to see how high they are or to make people feel good about how much they are saving.
I feel like I’m playing the stock market as I watch the gas prices while my gas gauge gets lower. I filled up at $1.79 a few days ago, and luckily that’s currently the lowest price in my area. Now that I know about this site however, I’ll have a much better chance of finding the lowest price consistently.
It’s $1.92 at the station nearest my house, and that’s probably less than 15 miles away from yours. However, I think gas prices are one of the most overreacted-to things out there. Often, stations only differ by 1 or 2 cents. Fill up with 15 gallons, and that’s only 15-30 cents — not worth driving around looking for the cheapest price. That said, you can find large differences occasionally, and I have to admit I’ve been guilty of my above argument.
I agree for a few cents, but I saved $1.95 by getting gas where I did, and I didn’t do any extra driving. I fill up about twice a month, so over the course of a year, that’s around $50. Nothing earth shattering, but fifty bucks is fifty bucks.
$1.72 was the last price I paid. While it would be nice to consistently get a break on the gas price, when you need gas . . . you need gas!
I’m lucky in that I have to drive onto an Army base to get to work every day. Gas is about 12-15 cents cheaper there than anywhere else; I haven’t seen it go over $1.99 yet (and it’s well below that now).
I just found another useful site related to gas prices. It was created by AAA and allows you to calculate the cost of traveling from two large cities in the US.
They provide average regional gas prices, and also estimate (based on your car) how many gallons you’ll use and how many miles it is.