Why are people buying gas in DC when it's so much cheaper in Nova? (Arlington: tax, live in)

[Caladium]

I hear there's an Exxon in DC charging more than $5 for regular . Premium is at $5.29 Yet, it's still getting plenty of customers. When prices get that high, you'd think everyone would drive across the river and fill up in Nova.

[MrRational]

12 gallons @ $5.29 = $63.48
12 gallons @ $4.99 = $59.88
incremental diff. = $ 3.60

In the larger scheme of things... if that $3.60 is so critical to your weekly budget
you probably shouldn't have a car in the first place.


feel free to change the specific math (as I swag-ed the nova gas price) but I stand by the rest

[Azmordean]

Except your post is not reality:

12 gallons @ 5.29 = 63.48
12 gallons @ 3.99 = 47.88

That's a $15.60 difference. If you assume most folks fill up once a week.. that's a difference of $67.60 per month. Hardly chump change.

Of course, most gas stations in DC I suspect don't charge THAT much. That's the watergate station, and is generally only used by folks traveling on corporate or Government expense accounts. Great to know our tax dollars go to that station, though!

[chariega]

gas in DC isn't that expensive. areas around the 66 entrance are, but I got gas yesterday on Georgia Avenue at 4.33 for premium--which is about 14 cents CHEAPER than it is at the Shell station by my house

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I hear there's an Exxon in DC charging more than $5 for regular . Premium is at $5.29 Yet, it's still getting plenty of customers. When prices get that high, you'd think everyone would drive across the river and fill up in Nova.

Sometimes people go for what is closer to them. Take me, sometimes I fill up by the gas station by my job (which is 40 miles from my home) which is a dime or 15 cents more a gallon than a station by my house. I do this because it is more money out of my pocket to wait until I get off work and drive 40 miles back. Plus does it really make sense to use a gallon of gas to save 20 cents a gallon?

[CaliTerp07]

My time is generally worth more than the difference in various stations. I'd rather pay an extra $.20 per gallon ($2-2.50 per fill up) and save 10 minutes driving to the cheaper station. My time is worth more than $12/hour.

Similarly, I'd guess the people going to those expensive stations feel the same way. Either the extra $1/gallon isn't a big deal to them, the company's paying it for them so they don't care, or they're making big money to the point where the convenience is worth far more than the extra $10-15 to fill up at that station.

[SallyField]

Depending on where you live in DC, you probably aren't driving very much. There's no way I'd cross the river and back just for gas, back when I lived there.

[scottfs]

That $5.29 price is the one at the Watergate. Pretty sure it was the full service price too. When I drove past there a week ago the gas station across the street and up a block was something like $4.30. My question is why wouldn't someone drive ACROSS THE STREET for that kind of savings?

[khuntrevor]

"Restroom for Customer Only"

[bmwguydc]

I do sometimes stop at the stations on Virginia Avenue because I do not trust the traffic to get to Arlington at certain times of the day. The main reason that I do so dates back a few years because of a finicky vehicle that had a fuel gauge that would register all sorts of crazy levels at random intervals. I didn't know that the gauge was faulty when I left my garage in Georgetown, when the vehicle had more than half a tank of fuel. I proceeded to get on the TR approach from 27th, passing the then Chevron, and thinking that I did not need to stop for fuel. Around the curve, I hit heavy traffic that was nearly completely stopped, and happened to notice when on the TR Bridge, not yet to mid-span, that the fuel level was now critical, pushing the limits of empty with associated warnings from the dashboard and trip computer. Long story short, it took seeming forever to get to the station in Rosslyn in stifling heat (since I had to turn off the A/C) and purchased just under 26 gallons, meaning that I had about half a gallon of fuel in the tank when I got there. Thus, I now tend to stop for a few gallons, at minimum, if I'm at half or below, with any car, even one that gets better MPG, because I will at least be assured of getting across the bridge intact and without damaging a fuel pump or injectors.