Seems pretty obvious doesn't it. The fact is when it comes to gas this simple and logical behavior is forgotten. If you were buying a television you would look for the store with the lowest price. Apparently we have been taught to consider gas differently. Drivers generally purchase gas where it is easiest and most convenient fuel up regardless of price. The station closest to where you live is the usual place to fill up regardless of price.

When you run low on gas and certainly when you think you are going to run out you fill up at the first station you come to. Most likely this station will not have the lowest price. Once again you are buying gas at a higher price than you have to.

A great way to find a station that has the lowest prices is to search the internet. There are a lot of websites that list local gas prices. They list the prices and the locations of the stations where they are found. Here are a few:

GasBuddy.com

Automotive.com

FuelMeUp.com

Finding low prices online is a good idea because you can shop for the best price without driving. In other words, you can find the best gas prices without burning gas to do it.

The American Automobile Association has done cost studies on operating cars. These studies have determined that it costs about 51.7 cents per mile to operate your car. Based on that 51.7 cent number every three miles you drive searching for low gas prices will cost you $1.50.

That means that if you need to put 15 gallons into your car you have to save about 10 cents for every three miles you drive. If you can find low price gas by not driving around to find it, for every three miles in travel you have eliminated, you have gained 10 cents per gallon.

This is also important to keep in mind when you find the best prices online. If the best prices are 6 miles away from your closest station, you would have to beat the price of the closest station by 20 cents to break even.

The best way to take advantage of the online pricing information is to make sure it is used in conjunction with intelligent planning of your driving trips. One example: if you always retrieve your dry cleaning on Wednesday and you found one of the stations with good prices is near those cleaners, plan in advance to buy your fuel on the same car trip you take to pick up your cleaning. In this way you are taking advantage of the best gas prices without any extra driving.

The internet can be a great resource for lowering your gas costs. Utilizing the online information in conjunction with advance planning of where and when you will purchase your gas can offer you considerable savings.