Subscribe to Fiscal Musings |  Subscribe by Email

Don’t Buy Gas At The Top

Gas prices where I live are typically on the low end of the national average and they probably still are, but today they finally broke the three dollar barrier up to $3.099. It didn’t really come as a shock since rising gas prices have been in the news for the past couple days along with the recent run-up in crude oil prices. Is it going to go down anytime soon, or will it stay at these high levels? It’s really anybody’s guess, and like I’ve talked about before we just have to deal with it.

There is one thing that I’ve noticed about gas prices though, and it’s helped me to rarely, if ever, buy gas at the peak points. It’s actually quite simple. Prices typically spike up quickly and retreat slowly. There are actual economic reasons behind this behaviour that I’m not going to go into here, but the important thing is realizing the behaviour and using it to out advantage. Just by knowing this general trend with gas prices you can lower the average price at which you buy gasoline.

Basically, I never fill up on the day that gas prices spike up. I just wait a little bit until the price comes down a little bit. Where people will get in trouble with this is by trying to time the absolute bottom before it spikes up again. You’ll only end up frustrating yourself. Just buy gas a little after it falls back from it’s most recent high. It’s really not that difficult. It’s not an exact science here, but it’s a tip that you can use if want.

 Subscribe to Fiscal Musings | Digg This! | Stumble it!

2 Comments so far »

  1. by The Bald Monkey, on March 13 2008 @ 7:30 am

     

    I always try to aim for getting gas a couple of days after prices have spiked but, inevitably, prices spike again the morning I am riding on fumes. Gets me every time.

  2. by RacerX, on March 13 2008 @ 11:50 am

     

    Whacky Idea of the Day - I believe that I am getting better gas mileage by NOT filling up. Makes sense as gas weighs about 8 pounds a gallon…Just a weird factoid that I wonder if oters are noticing as well.

Comment RSS · TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

Name: (Required)

eMail: (Required)

Website:

Comment:

ss_blog_claim=9601e5641d29c3d7a70a78cdaf8e9bc9