The Most/Least Expensive Gas Station Chain In Your Area...

[thenetwork]

This might be an easy to predict thread, but I was curious to see what major or regional gas station chains are traditionally the most & least expensive in your area?

Here in Western Colorado:

Most Expensive:  Shell (since they tend to advertise their gas as "top-shelf" fuel)
Least Expensive:  Sinclair (I believe most of their petroleum comes from the Rocky Mountain/Wyoming area).

[corco]

Most Expensive: Chevron
Least Expensive: In Montana it's usually Town Pump (Exxon) or Safeway, Idaho is Maverik, Wyoming is either Maverik or whatever Kroger subsidiary serves that city

[Alps]

Most: Exxon
Least: Wawa (cash/credit usually same) or Gulf (cash cheaper)

[GCrites]

BPs are generally ridiculous around here. Rockefeller's location scouters were very, very good and old Sohio stations (which BP took over) still occupy some of the best. This is despite decades of growth and sprawl around here. Many of the leftover locations are still fantastic and the fuel prices reflect it.

[Brandon]

We have one Mobil that's out of order, being 20 cents higher than a shell on the other side of I-55 along US-30.  However, the booby prize goes to Greedway..er..Speedway for being the first to always raise prices.

[allniter89]

Most: Exxon, BP & Shell
Least: Tom Thumb & Raceway
Often Tom Thumb & Raceway are lower than Sams.

[cpzilliacus]

Most: Several in the District of Columbia, including  a Liberty and Valero on Virginia Avenue, N.W. near the Watergate (the Liberty used to be an Exxon, and is considered the most-expensive on in the D.C. area)

Least:  Costco and Sam's Club

[Pink Jazz]

For branded gas, it seems that ARCO is typically the cheapest here in Arizona.  Chevron is usually the most expensive.  However, Costco, Sam's Club, and Fry's are often even cheaper.

[Zeffy]

Most: Exxon
Least: Wawa (cash/credit usually same) or Gulf (cash cheaper)

I saw an Exxon at least .21 cents higher than another gas station about 1/2 of a mile away in Kendall Park the other day. I was disgusted that anyone would stop there and get ripped off when you get a much better deal for about half a minute more driving distance.

[jeffandnicole]

Wawa gets credit for having the cheapest gas, regardless if they're actually the cheapest. I've noticed they are quick to raise prices on speculation (ie: news reports of possible rising prices), then slowly lower them when the other gas stations remain the same or lower their prices.

Around me, Citgo has recently been one of the cheaper brands, and many (but not all) are same price cash/credit. But there's no one dominant brand that is always cheaper. Lukoils tend to be some of the most expensive stations around. 

[KG909]

Most: Chevron
Least: Arco

[briantroutman]

I see much more variance from station to station of the same brand than I do from brand to brand. All other things being equal, the major vertically integrated petro brands (such as Exxon, Mobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron) are usually about the same price; lesser known or no-name brands next door might be a few cents less. Retailers that derive a much higher percentage of their revenues from non-fuel sales (such as very large convenience stores, grocery stores, and warehouse clubs) are often the cheapest.

Making a straight comparison of prices isn't always fair, though, because the lowest advertised price may require paying cash or having a paid membership, and on the other hand, some of the higher priced fuel retailers participate in grocery reward programs or have credit cards with per-gallon rebates, either of which could reduce your effective cost.

For branded gas, it seems that ARCO is typically the cheapest here in Arizona.

Although it should be pointed out that not only is ARCO's price a cash only price, they don't accept credit cards at all–even for a surcharge. That also includes their convenience store.

When "cheapest gas"  announcements are tacked onto Bay Area newscasts, the winners are almost always ARCO stations or Costco locations.

[Pete from Boston]

Most: Exxon
Least: Wawa (cash/credit usually same) or Gulf (cash cheaper)

Wawa is cheaper than Delta, or are you just not in their range?

[Pete from Boston]

Here the cheapest chain is a very local handful of King Petroleum stations, followed closely by the regional ALPrime chain.  The only multi-state chain even close would be Hess, but they're rarely as cheap as these others.

[oscar]

Most: Several in the District of Columbia, including  a Liberty and Valero on Virginia Avenue, N.W. near the Watergate (the Liberty used to be an Exxon, and is considered the most-expensive on in the D.C. area)

Least:  Costco and Sam's Club

For the inner Northern Virginia suburbs, Liberty and Hess seem to be cheapest (not many grocery or club stores with gas pumps, nor Wawas or Sheetzes, this close to D.C.).  But wide disparities within brands, largely based on location.

[hotdogPi]

Most: Mobil
Least: Most non-chain gas stations

[cjk374]

Here in north central Louisiana, Murphy USA (read Wal-Mart gas) and Raceway are usually the inexpensive brands.  However, in the last 6 months, I've noticed that the name-brand stations have actually been keeping up with Raceway's and Wal-Mart's prices.

[1995hoo]

Most: Several in the District of Columbia, including  a Liberty and Valero on Virginia Avenue, N.W. near the Watergate (the Liberty used to be an Exxon, and is considered the most-expensive on in the D.C. area)

Least:  Costco and Sam's Club

For the inner Northern Virginia suburbs, Liberty and Hess seem to be cheapest (not many grocery or club stores with gas pumps, nor Wawas or Sheetzes, this close to D.C.).  But wide disparities within brands, largely based on location.

This matches my observation. The two stations on Virginia Avenue are real outliers in price, though the Valero (which is the one on the corner of Rock Creek Pakrway that used to be an Exxon; the Liberty across the street used to be a Chevron and then a Sunoco) is not as insanely expensive as it used to be. Seems there's a new owner.

BP seems to be, on average, the most expensive, but there are fewer BPs around than other brands.

I tend to go to Shell for the grocery-point discount. If I don't have points, I go to Liberty since it's usually a bit cheaper. (For those unfamiliar, I believe Liberty is a regional brand, as I've seen them as far south as the I-64 corridor.)

[NWI_Irish96]

Not really a chain, but there is a local station called Dairy Mart.  It is in a somewhat rough area and has very old pumps that do not take cards thus requiring going inside to pre-pay, so they need to always be 4-7 cents below everybody else to attract business.

[ajlynch91]

While Speedway used to have the cheapest gas, there is now a lot more parity between stations regardless of brands. Meijer, Mobil, Shell, Speedway and BP almost always have the same price in Bolingbrook, although occasionally BP is 10 cents more expensive in Woodridge. Interestingly, the biggest difference in gas prices is often between the two Shells at the intersection of IL-53 and Boughton, one is owned and the other I believe is company run. The owned Shell often has gas more expensive (sometimes ridiculously so) than the one kitty corner from it. Go figure.

[Scott5114]

I saw an Exxon at least .21 cents higher

They list prices to the hundredth of a cent?

(".21 cents" is equal to $0.0021. Either say "21 cents" or "$0.21". Or get a job at Verizon.)

[1995hoo]

I saw an Exxon at least .21 cents higher

They list prices to the hundredth of a cent?

(".21 cents" is equal to $0.0021. Either say "21 cents" or "$0.21". Or get a job at Verizon.)

Better yet, "21¢"

[realjd]

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who fills up where convenient and couldn't tell you which stations are consistently cheaper locally. All of the stations are within 10 cents of each other so at worst I'm out an extra $1.50 for the fill up.

[froggie]

Most: Several in the District of Columbia, including  a Liberty and Valero on Virginia Avenue, N.W. near the Watergate (the Liberty used to be an Exxon, and is considered the most-expensive on in the D.C. area)

Least:  Costco and Sam's Club

Oscar mentioned (and hoo agreed) that Northern Virginia is more location-dependent than brand-dependent.  I'd argue the same is the case for DC proper...your mentioning of the station at 27th and Virginia NW is an excellent example.


Up here in northern New England, cheapest tends to be a toss-up between Irving or Cumberland Farms.

[1995hoo]

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who fills up where convenient and couldn't tell you which stations are consistently cheaper locally. All of the stations are within 10 cents of each other so at worst I'm out an extra $1.50 for the fill up.

I find it's not too difficult to plan ahead when I know I'll need gas. But if I'm out on the Interstate and I don't know the local stations, I'll just stop where it's convenient. While I have the useful GasBuddy app, I won't operate it while I'm driving.

Thing is, within about a 2-mile radius of our house the price varies by a good 50¢ a gallon. About a mile to the west are five stations that are typically about 50¢ a gallon more than the three about a mile to the east. Under those circumstances, it'd be crazy not to go to the cheaper ones unless you knew of a problem with their gas or you had a special reason for patronizing the other ones (friend owns the station, perhaps).

My brother-in-law uses BP even when it costs more because he gets some kind of discount with his BP credit card, but it seems to me there's little chance that discount would outweigh a 50¢-a-gallon premium!