Hatrack River Forum: Observations from mileage log

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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

I posted some of this in the Gas Prices Near You thread (Post Katrina) thread.

It's a great idea to keep track of mileage, not only for financial purposes, but for car maintenance purposes. I've got 8 months of mileage data analyzed now.

Here's an excerpt
Date_____Price I paid
---------------------------
3/17_____2.05
3/21_____2.08
3/22_____2.11
3/28_____2.10
4/09_____2.08
4/23_____2.10
4/25_____2.21
4/29_____2.06
5/13_____1.93
5/24_____1.89
6/06_____2.02
6/23_____2.17
7/06_____2.07
7/21_____2.15
7/27_____2.20
8/01_____2.27
8/08_____2.29
8/21_____2.56
8/30_____2.84
9/13_____2.57
9/27_____2.65
10/5_____2.70
10/10____2.72
10/11____2.43
10/23____2.18
11/03____2.03
11/16____1.96
11/23____1.89
12/07____2.11
12/18____2.15
12/28____2.19

In those 8 months of records, I travelled 9,095 miles and consumed 337.31 gallons of gas. Economy averaged 27 MPG, which isn't bad for a 12 year old Buick. [Smile]

One of the factors I tracked was the total cost relative to other gas stations. In the past, I bought gas wherever convenience suited me. When HyVee started gas discounts with grocery receipts, I switched to them exclusively, and started keeping a written log.

HyVee discounts ranged from 3 cents to 21 cents. Of course, sometimes that discount was quite misleading. The biggest discounts occurred right before huge price drops. The result: buying gas two days later gave the impression of less savings. I figured that after 8 months of data collection, those savings averaged out.

But I needed a metric for gas prices. I know gas varies in price from one region to another. Gas also varies between store chains. Before I started this experiment, I bought gas at either QuikTrip or HyVee. QuikTrip is closer to my apartment, and their stores usually don't vary much in price between locations. In other words, the store near me is usually the same price as the store near where I work, more than 10 miles away.

I decided on QuikTrip as my baseline because I could easily note the price when I bought gas at HyVee, thus keeping record-keeping simple. I also noticed, prior to record-keeping, the HyVee price before discount seemed no-so-discreetly tied to the QuikTrip price. Given QuikTrip's reputation and presence in Kansas City, I figured this wasn't a coincidence.

Well, to keep this short, after 31 gas receipts, I saved $15.54 through my devotion to HyVee. Enough for a free tank of gas. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mr.Funny (Member # 4467) on :

You can fill up your tank on $15.54? You must have a small tank.

Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

It's only about 13 gallons, give or take.

Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :

Not at 2.19 a gallon (your last tank), it's not. $15 in gas is a little more than 7 gallons.

Now, my tank only holds 9, so if I had your prices, I would be close to a tank of gas with 15.59 in savings. Certainly enough to sustain me for 2 weeks since I don't drive very much.

Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

True, my brain is still stuck "gas is $1.50", internally. My intended observation was that I don't wait until the tank is sipping fumes before filling up. So, a "tank" for me is less than a full 13 gallons.

I also lost a few records over the months, due to various reasons. Maybe half a dozen got chucked out for my calculation of "savings."