Price Difference of Premium vs Regular

[earlyre]

here, there is no E0 gas period.
there is only 1 e85 pump in my whole county.

we always used to have(until 3-4 years ago) a .10 spread between grades(87,89,91), except for BP, who always went .11 between mid-grade and premium.

3-4 years ago, the spread went to .15 between grades, and now it's .20

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
For the last decade here in north Idaho, there has been a 20 cent difference per gallon for Conoco premium versus Conoco regular. But recently the difference has increased to 25 cents.

What is the reason for the increase? What is the price differential in your geographical area?


I see about 50¢ in NY. I only buy premium (high test as we called it in the 1970s) for OPE as its E0 at some gas stations.

 

[Kestas]

I found this link a few months ago.

Premium now costs 26% more than regular. The differential is so great that the false economy argument doesn't hold anymore. I've switched to regular for my cars that have a knock sensor.

 

[ammolab]

As low as .25 at some stations but over .60 at Shell....Too rich for my taste

 

[SHOZ]

Around here they go $0.30 a gallon between grades usually, sometimes even more for the premium.

 

[y_p_w]

There's no rhyme or reason to it, but a 10 cent spread between regular/mid/premium has been the most common since I remember. The cheapest place I've seen fuel in the last 20 years was on a trip to Arizona, where the prices at most big-name gas stations were 79.9/89.9/99.9 cents/gallon. It's not necessarily a matter of cost to the manufacturer or distributor.

I mostly get my gas at Costco now. They play around with their spread (no mid grade of course) quite a bit - anywhere from 20 to 30 cents. It was really odd too a few days ago at my closest Costco, where the price of regular went up, but premium went down.

 

[BAJA_05]

Sixty cents here or more in Berks County Pennsylvania!!!

 

[tgrudzin]

Citgo-Chicago suburb $2.29 87: 3.09 92 octane. Ouch!

 

[Neil_A]

$0.70 to $0.80 a gallon difference between 87 and 93 here in Michigan. 3 years ago I buy a car that recommends premium, and that's when they decide to exact a premium for premium.

 

[TTK]

I have often wondered just how fresh the premium gasoline is at many of these stations. Most people don't buy it.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: TTK
I have often wondered just how fresh the premium gasoline is at many of these stations. Most people don't buy it.

The tanks are sized accordingly. For example:

"Two 20,000 gallon tanks (40,000 gallons total), each with two compartments, creating storage capacities of 15,000, 5,000, 12,000, and 8,000 gallons
Two 12,000 gallon tanks and one 20,000 gallon tank (44,000 gallons total)
A 20,000 gallon UST for regular gasoline, a 12,000 gallon for premium, and a 6,000 gallon for diesel (38,000 gallons)
Two 30,000 gallon compartmentalized tanks (60,000 gallons total)
Some petroleum marketers anticipate fluctuating fuel prices and install more capacity so they can buy and store additional fuel when it is offered at lower prices—for example, two 20,000 gallon tanks, one 15,000 gallon tank, and one 12,000 gallon tank (67,000 gallons total)
One 25,000 gallon tank and one 22,000 gallon tank, split into two compartments (47,000 gallons total)
Stores that dispense biofuels separately may install total tank capacities as great as 60,000 gallons. At a truck stop, diesel tank storage can be another 30,000 gallons or more.
Small mom-and-pop stores install less capacity, perhaps two 12,000 gallon tanks (24,000 gallons total)
In extremely rural areas, a single 20,000 gallon tank with multi-compartments might be installed."

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: TTK
I have often wondered just how fresh the premium gasoline is at many of these stations. Most people don't buy it.

Where?

Around here there are lots of high performance cars with "PREMIUM UNLEADED ONLY" on the back of the fuel filler door. Not just European imports, but less expensive performance cars with forced induction and/or high compression engines. There's a high demand and high turnover for premium unleaded around here.

 

[Garak]

We used to be ten cents per litre for years, of course, that's gone up. We hadn't had a ten cents per gallon difference in recent memory.

 

[Elevguy]

At local Costco 43 cents

 

[Vuflanovsky]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: TTK
I have often wondered just how fresh the premium gasoline is at many of these stations. Most people don't buy it.

Where?

Around here there are lots of high performance cars with "PREMIUM UNLEADED ONLY" on the back of the fuel filler door. Not just European imports, but less expensive performance cars with forced induction and/or high compression engines. There's a high demand and high turnover for premium unleaded around here.


I was just going to say something similar as it probably depends on demographics as much as anything...my station pumps around 200,000 gallons a month and there's a lot of people using the premium nozzles. No worries about stale gas....more worries about overused pumps needing repair again closing half the station.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: TTK
I have often wondered just how fresh the premium gasoline is at many of these stations. Most people don't buy it.

Where?

Around here there are lots of high performance cars with "PREMIUM UNLEADED ONLY" on the back of the fuel filler door. Not just European imports, but less expensive performance cars with forced induction and/or high compression engines. There's a high demand and high turnover for premium unleaded around here.


I was just going to say something similar as it probably depends on demographics as much as anything...my station pumps around 200,000 gallons a month and there's a lot of people using the premium nozzles. No worries about stale gas....more worries about overused pumps needing repair again closing half the station.

I thought one of the bigger issues is water filters needing replacement. I was told that was happening when the rate was slowing down to a trickle.

 

[TiredTrucker]

There has always been a substantial enough price spread in my area between regular and premium that I have no desire to ever own a vehicle that calls for premium fuel. I go a step further, I have grown fond of flex fuel vehicles so that I have a plethora of fuel choices available. I can use whatever fuel, based on the current pricing, that offers the lowest cost per mile to operate my vehicle. And premium will never win that challenge.

 

[Donald]

According to a gas truck driver I asked many gas stations blend premium and regular to come up with mid range.

 

[DAC17]

Costco in our area is never more than 20 cents difference; most other stations 50 cents or more. Guess that's how others make their money!

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Donald
According to a gas truck driver I asked many gas stations blend premium and regular to come up with mid range.

Depends. There are a lot of different ways to do it. Here in California, the standard premium is 91 (used to be 92 but that's a long story). About the only way to get anything higher than that is to use a "blending pump" that mixes in 100 octane street-legal race gas. That could be done with something more pedestrian like mid-grade too. I remember this one gas station that sold race-gas, but also 94/96/98 octane. I'm pretty sure it was via blending, because whenever they put a sign up that said "out of race gas" the 94 to 98 octane fuels were also unavailable.

One time I was at a gas station where I saw the driver delivering fuel. I asked if the mid-grade was from blending, and he said that he was delivering mid-grade straight from the fuel terminal. I saw two trailers, and he pointed out the seam where the compartments in the same tank were separated, as well as the separate valves.