Gas Prices Currently

[mike carey]

25 minutes ago, sync said:

I must be a museum piece.  I can remember paying $0.19/gal. for regular gas.

From one museum piece to another, the first price I can remember, and I didn't have a car until my early 20s so I suspect it wasn't until then or shortly earlier, was 10 cents a litre (so that places it after 1974 when we went metric).

[Becket]

I remember as a kid some adult complaining "damn, gas is going to be 50 cents a gallon soon."  That was when gas was 32 cents a gallon. 

We are all in for one wild ride this summer. But not a lot of riding in the car.

[mike carey]

22 minutes ago, Becket said:

I remember as a kid some adult complaining "damn, gas is going to be 50 cents a gallon soon."  That was when gas was 32 cents a gallon. 

We are all in for one wild ride this summer. But not a lot of riding in the car.

But EVs are the work of the devil.

[marylander1940]

32 minutes ago, mike carey said:

But EVs are the work of the devil.

 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 3/8/2026 at 6:29 PM, SidewaysDM said:

I paid $3.57 in Philly today. Unfortunately, I am afraid that $4.00 a gallon will be common in this area, in the near future! 

That's a bargain compared to 2008 and 2012-2014 prices, adjusted for inflation. 

Gas would need to be over $6.00 a gallon in 2026 dollars to be more than we paid in those years. 

Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/4453/us-gasoline-prices

[+ sync]

1 hour ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

That's a bargain compared to 2008 and 2012-2014 prices, adjusted for inflation. 

Gas would need to be over $6.00 a gallon in 2026 dollars to be more than we paid in those years. 

I believe we might be getting there.

[Luv2play]

On 3/13/2026 at 3:43 PM, Vegas_Millennial said:

That's a bargain compared to 2008 and 2012-2014 prices, adjusted for inflation. 

Gas would need to be over $6.00 a gallon in 2026 dollars to be more than we paid in those years. 

Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/4453/us-gasoline-prices

Those average prices mask the fact that in some areas the price was quite a bit lower. For instance in 1999 and 2000 I was living in South Florida during the winters and the price was way below $2. I remember $1.16. I could fill my Mercedes for under $15 and got great mileage as it was turbocharged. Over 300 miles on a tankful. 

Edited Saturday at 11:26 PM by Luv2play

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, Luv2play said:

Those average prices mask the fact that in some areas the price was quite a bit lower. For instance in 1999 and 2000 I was living in South Florida during the winters and the price was way below $2. I remember $1.16. I could fill my Mercedes for under $15 and got great mileage as it was turbocharged. Over 300 miles on a tankful. 

Yup, 1999 was the lowest price of gas in the history of gasoline, adjusted for inflation.  That's around the time I started driving; so, I, too, was spoiled thinking that price of gas was the norm!  I remember gas getting close to under a dollar... Maybe $1.019... Even in expensive California where I was.

Edited Sunday at 01:41 AM by Vegas_Millennial

[+ azdr0710]

Remember the price plunge in early 2016? For a couple glorious days at my local Costco, it was $1.139/gallon.

[guru68]

I have a vague memory of noticing the gas price as 37¢ growing up.

[+ SidewaysDM]

In the suburbs of Philly, I can remember my older brother paying 25 cents a gallon in 1972. I thought we were so cool, riding in his brand new, light blue 1972 VW Beatle! If the gas tank was almost empty, it would cost $2.50 to fill it up! BTW I was 11! I miss the good old days! LOL

[Luv2play]

8 hours ago, SidewaysDM said:

In the suburbs of Philly, I can remember my older brother paying 25 cents a gallon in 1972. I thought we were so cool, riding in his brand new, light blue 1972 VW Beatle! If the gas tank was almost empty, it would cost $2.50 to fill it up! BTW I was 11! I miss the good old days! LOL

I’m older than you but in 1972 I had a light blue VW Beatle, 1966 version, that I drove at university in Toronto. I remember it costing about $3 cdn to fill up. How about that! Small world indeed.

[Luv2play]

Am I correct in thinking you had to access the fuel cap under the front hood in the Beatle?

[+ SidewaysDM]

On 3/15/2026 at 3:06 AM, SidewaysDM said:

In the suburbs of Philly, I can remember my older brother paying 25 cents a gallon in 1972. I thought we were so cool, riding in his brand new, light blue 1972 VW Beatle! If the gas tank was almost empty, it would cost $2.50 to fill it up! BTW I was 11! I miss the good old days! LOL

In the summer of 1975, my best friend and I “borrowed” my brother’s  ‘72 Beatle for a three day, 500 mile adventure……..Gas prices had risen to 55 cents per gallon! Luckily, we had stolen $400 of my parents cash to keep the tank full! Btw: We were 14 years old! My family and friends still enjoy reminiscing about our long weekend on the run! Maybe I will start a new thread titled…..Your First Sexual Experiences on a Road Trip! LOL

[+ PhileasFogg]

On 3/10/2026 at 1:00 AM, jeezifonly said:

If I said I could, I'd be wrong, but you know I'm right. 🥂

Sir, I don’t think that is quite right. The outcome may at times appear as you suggest, but likely for very different reasons. As Hanlon’s Razor suggests, this is better not attributed to malice.  Being right for the wrong reasons is a disparagement to oil executives by suggesting illegal collusion 😉

The real dynamic is more nuanced and, in my view, has less to do with oil executives acting in concert than with the behavior of large-scale fuel consumers. A useful example is the airline industry. An airline does not begin with a preferred price and then decide whether to buy fuel. It begins with a projected fuel requirement necessary to keep its fleet operating and then works backward to secure that supply at whatever the market will bear. They cannot afford to be without fuel, because grounding aircraft is vastly more costly than paying a high price.

That same logic applies across other major transportation and industrial users. Many make forward commitments months or even years in advance, not because they like the price, but because continuity of operations matters more than waiting for a better one. Once those contracts and expectations are embedded in the system, pricing downstream can remain elevated even when outside observers expect a quicker decline.

Have you looked at the price of a plane ticket lately? It is close to double what it was 60–90 days ago (I travel a lot..I’m seeing it in real time). Part of that is seasonal demand, but part is also that carriers are buying against future fuel needs in a market where they cannot risk interruption. Until those higher-cost commitments roll through the system, prices for fuel-sensitive goods and services may remain elevated.

So while I understand why collusion is an intuitive explanation, I do not think it is the most persuasive one without actual evidence. In many cases, the explanation is simply that large essential users are price-takers when continuity of service is on the line.

[+ Just Chuck]

I sometimes felt like I personally controlled the price of gas with whatever I happened to be driving.  I’d drive a pickup truck with a big V-8 that sucked gas and the price would go over $4/gallon or I’d buy an economy car that got 35+mpg and the price would drop to $0.99/gallon.

[mike carey]

2 hours ago, Just Chuck said:

I sometimes felt like I personally controlled the price of gas with whatever I happened to be driving.  I’d drive a pickup truck with a big V-8 that sucked gas and the price would go over $4/gallon or I’d buy an economy car that got 35+mpg and the price would drop to $0.99/gallon.

Could you come to Australia and buy the most fuel-efficient car you can, please?

[+ glutes]

[+ Lucky]

I just paid $5.99.9 at Costco for regular.

As a boy I remember the sign at the Sunoco listing the price as 19.9.

One Memorial Day Weekend a few years later I was going on a driving vacation and was annoyed to see that the price had gone up...to 38.9 a gallon.

So all that makes me old.

[MikeBiDude]

I just paid $6.09 high octane here on SoCal, Los Angeles area.

@Lucky wow that seems high for Costco regular!!