Ridiculous Premium Gas Prices

"TractorPillow" (tractorpillow) 01/18/2016 at 19:00 • Filed to: None

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I’ve been buying premium since 2010 when I bought a Mazdaspeed3 and most of my cars since have required it. Back then I usually paid $0.30-$0.50 more than regular. Recently it’s more around the lines of $0.60 more. Today I was in my wife’s car, thankfully it takes regular, and noticed the largest disparity I’ve ever seen. Went inside to buy a drink and asked the attendant and she said she’s never been asked about it before and wasn’t sure why it was so much more.

(If you can’t see on the pic, regular is $1.55 and premium is more than double at $3.19)

Textured Soy Protein > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:05

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Yeah, it’s getting out of hand. I noticed the same thing recently, but so far the biggest jump from regular to premium I’ve seen is “only” $1.10 a gallon.

Oil and gas prices are getting so low that the gas stations are trying to make up their margins by gouging on premium, especially now that more and more “regular” cars have turbocharged or high compression engines that run on premium.

Urambo Tauro > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:08

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Is it just the octane level that’s different? If so, I’d imagine one could pump regular, and drop in an octane booster additive. Would that be just as effective? (I’ve never owned a car that called for high-octane gas.)

Lossy > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:10

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I have heard that they will sometimes keep the price the same until they refill their tanks. Maybe they haven’t sold much premium for over a year?

TractorPillow > Urambo Tauro 01/18/2016 at 19:11

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Beats me. I don’t know that much about gas. I’ve found that on post is the best bet for premium. Their regular gas is usually a couple cents higher than the local area, but premium is only $0.40 more so it’s not that big of a deal for me most of the time.

TractorPillow > Textured Soy Protein 01/18/2016 at 19:11

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And now “regular” car drivers are going to start skimping on premium and mixing some midgrade in and then some regular and so on.

TractorPillow > Lossy 01/18/2016 at 19:13

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Goodness I hope not. If that’s the case then that gas is gonna be terrible. It’s on a semi-busy stretch of road so I would imagine they’ve refilled in the last year. Really I haven’t seen gas that high in a few years anyways.

Lossy > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:16

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Yeah likely scumbag gouging, but wanted to throw out the benefit of the doubt.

dogisbadob > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:17

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That shit PISSES ME OFF!!! and I don’t even need or use premiumon my car!

With that big of a gap, just use regular and buy a bottle of NOS octane boost at Walmart for $10.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:19

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I’be been noticing similar pricing. This is a unfortunate trend especially as engine compression ratios continue to increase.

AM3R shamefully returns > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:21

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Drives me crazy too. All 3 of my cars require at least 91. Regular is around $1.87 here in NoVa yet I'm still paying almost $3 a gallon for premium.

Textured Soy Protein > Urambo Tauro 01/18/2016 at 19:22

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Usually that’s the only difference, although some stations around me have ethanol-free premium but E10 in the regular and midgrade.

Berang > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:25

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In before 500 people tell you what price gouging “actually” is. As well as in before 500,000 people write things like “It’s their gas they can charge what they want!”

TractorPillow > dogisbadob 01/18/2016 at 19:25

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Thanks for sharing in the anger!

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:27

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Story of NJ. Regular is around $1.60, 93 is about $3.00

TractorPillow > Berang 01/18/2016 at 19:29

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a debate in ethics class last year that got in the weeds about price gouging. I do actually agree they can charge whatever they want, but I also don’t have to like it.

TractorPillow > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 01/18/2016 at 19:32

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I’ve never noticed a big disparity until recently. And the funny thing is that there are still a handful of stations that have normal markups. I honestly think that a lot of people filling up with premium just aren’t looking at the price at the pump and all they see is the regular price on the sign.

Bytemite > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:35

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Good thing those modern turbo cars can run on regular with retarded timing. :)

dogisbadob > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 01/18/2016 at 19:37

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Costco, Sam’s Club, and some BP’s are fair with the price diffs.

Plus, you don’t need a membership to buy gas at the clubs in NJ.

Berang > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:40

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I was just making a joke because when the FP ran that story about Uber’s new years price hike, I called it gouging, and got a bunch of furious replies from people who were acting like I wanted to destroy capitalism.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > dogisbadob 01/18/2016 at 19:41

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costco premium kills my gas mileage

Rob Erickson > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 19:42

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When I first started buying cars that required premium, the price difference around here was $0.20/gallon. Now it’s around $0.60-0.70

TractorPillow > Berang 01/18/2016 at 20:22

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Oh yes I remember that now!

dogisbadob > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 01/18/2016 at 20:27

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Then try sam :p

Urambo Tauro > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 20:29

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I spent a few minutes Googling just to satisfy my curiosity, and the general consensus seems to be that you’re better off pumping the high octane in the first place. It seems that those off-the-shelf boosters don’t raise the octane very much (like half a point per shot), so more than one treatment may be required.

But a lot of what I found was a few years old, so there may be stronger, more effective formulas out there. Anyone who’s interested in doing this would still have to do some proper research first, weighing octane ratings and comparing prices...

HammerheadFistpunch > Urambo Tauro 01/18/2016 at 21:56

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Octane boosters will not raise your octane even a full point, they are legally able to say “8 points!” but mean .8. MTBE (the main ingredient in boosters) can only be used legally in low concentrations. You will never get a real octane boost (legally) from anything you buy on the shelf.

HammerheadFistpunch > dogisbadob 01/18/2016 at 22:04

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FYI - off the shelf boosters don’t actually boost your octane. The best you will get from a street legal formula (you’ll see on the back if it is or not...NOS is) is between a .2 and .9 RON increase. Technically they can do this as it will “raise your octane 9 points!” in octane a “point” is literally a dot then number.

dogisbadob > HammerheadFistpunch 01/18/2016 at 22:46

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Actually, the one I’m talking about raises your octane 31 points, or 3.1 full numbers. It’s actually “not street legal” but still claims to be oxygen sensors and cats.

here it is
(Walmart has it for less, but I couldn’t find it on their site)

Apparently, NOS used to offer one that increased octane by 60 points!

facw > TractorPillow 01/18/2016 at 23:56

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That’s bad. It was $0.64 more for premium here when I filled up on Friday. I wonder how much of it just has to do with the fact most stations seem only to list their regular and diesel prices on their signs these day, so you can’t quickly compare the other grades.

TractorPillow > facw 01/19/2016 at 08:55

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Yeah, the ones that advertise all 3 seem to be more standard incremental increases. The ones that just advertise regular might be hoping for the premium users to pull in and either not look at the price or just say “screw it, I’m here anyways.”

Mustafaluigi > AM3R shamefully returns 01/19/2016 at 12:08

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You need to go get yourself a BJ’s membership and their credit card. Not only is their premium only $0.20 more per gallon but with their credit card you get an additional 0.10 off. I just paid like $1.85 for 93 in Fairfax.

AM3R shamefully returns > Mustafaluigi 01/19/2016 at 12:25

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I’m maybe 10 minutes away from the BJ’s in fair lakes... Definitely gonna have to check this out! I'm over in Centreville.

BLCKSTRM > TractorPillow 01/19/2016 at 12:28

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Is it time again for an oppo post on how octane works?

I wonder if I have something I could just repost?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > TractorPillow 01/26/2016 at 15:23

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It only gets annoying when stations will advertise the regular (87) price on the sign but have wildly varying premium (92-93) pricing. One station could be at around $2.15 while the one across the street is $2.75 but they both have regular at $1.75. This is absolved by using gas buddy, an app which works well. I also somehow found a station that only sold up to 89 and didn’t even have 91. So that made for quite the annoying waste of my time in finding another station.

TractorPillow > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 01/26/2016 at 15:30

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Yup. Exactly the problem.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > TractorPillow 01/26/2016 at 16:11

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This is generally only a problem on longer trips though and I can’t just go to local stations. I know all of the local places to avoid and just go to the ones with trustworthy pricing (normally Wawa is the best bet for me in NJ). Although some stations definitely have "better gas" regardless of the octane rating. 93 octane at a Mobil or Sunnoco is definitely way better than 93 at Costco for example. I get better mileage for sure.