Just thought I'd catch your attention.  Good info on gas

10 things gas stations won't tell you

They share your pain when gas prices soar but not your nostalgia for service bays. And although they accept debit cards, using one might cost more than you think.

[Related content: gas prices, credit cards, debit cards, spending, car repairs] By SmartMoney  

1. "Good luck finding the best deal."

When it comes to gas prices, most stations are branded -- meaning the name of a major oil company hangs out front -- and must buy gas from their proprietary company. They can't shop around.

With a lock on sales, the oil companies charge each station a different price depending on various factors, such as the station's competition and its location. That means a station might have to pay a lot more than one down the street, and that cost gets passed along to you.

Faced with such instability, Gainesville, Fla., resident Steven King plans ahead: "If I know I'm going out of town, I try not to buy gas, so I can fill up after I leave." King says he can save 10 cents a gallon by purchasing gas on the road. You'd be similarly wise to shop around because with prices constantly in motion, the cheapest gas may not be at the same station every time.

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2. "I hate it when gas prices go up."

Stations earn, on average, 10 to 15 cents on a gallon of gas. Ironically, they earn the least when prices are highest. When fuel climbs, gas stations usually must shrink their profit margins to remain competitive, meaning they earn less per gallon.

But another big cost during tough times is something they can't do anything about: credit card fees, which add up to about 2.5% of all purchases. When gas is at, say, $2 a gallon, stations pay credit card companies 5 cents a gallon; when ga****s $3, that fee becomes 7.5 cents, at least half of the stations' average profits.

"Those credit card fees are miserable for the gas station business," says Mohsen Arabshahi, who owns five Southern California stations.

How do station owners make up for lost revenue? "Prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather," says Richard Gilbert, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. For several weeks after wholesale prices drop, stations can earn as much as 20 cents a gallon before retail prices are lowered to reflect the change.

3. "My gas isn't better for your car; it's just more expensive."

Oil companies spend lots of money explaining why their gas is better than the competition's. Chevron's gas, for example, is fortified with Techron, and Amoco Ultimate is supposed to save the planet along with your engine. But today, more than ever, one gallon of gas is as good as the next.

True, additives help to clean your engine, but what the companies don't tell you is that all gas has them. Since 1994, the government has required that detergents be added to all gasoline to help prevent fuel injectors from clogging.

State and local regulators keep a close watch to make sure those standards are met; a 2005 study indicated that Florida inspectors checked 45,000 samples to ensure the state's gas supply was up to snuff, and 99% of the time it was.

"There's little difference between brand-name gas and any other," AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom says.

What's more, your local Chevron station may sell gas refined by Shell or Exxon Mobil. Suppliers share pipelines, so they all use the same fuel. And the difference between the most expensive brand-name gas and the lowliest gallon of no-brand fuel? Often just a quart of detergent added to an 8,000-gallon tanker truck.

Actually federal law limits what little additives that the oil companies can add to gasoline making the small amount of additives pretty much nothing. Gasoline is, in fact, gasoline. If it is 87 octane, then it is 87 octane, if it is 90 octane, then it is 90 octane no matter where you get it.

I read that before...But I disagree with some of it.  For some reason my 2001 Chevy Prism (Toyota Corrolla) would knock and ping unless you put in Chevron.  I tried it with the no named...sure enough...knocks and pings.  Now with the other cars...no problems with the no names...doesn't matter.  But with some cars it may matter.  The other thing is that here in California we have Arco gas.  This stuff is cheaper that other gas but it really burns faster.  My roommate in college did a study.  They put 1/2 a gallon in a 3 hp engine.  Used all the different gases just to see what happened.  Tested them over and over.  The one thing he said was the Arco ran through the engine 10% faster!!  It burns real clean...but it burns up quickly too.  Just my thoughts.  Brian  PS  Went to Montana last month...almost put in 85% octane in my tank...didn't know they had that up there??

Most cars built today have oxygen sensors in the exhaust and adjust the fuel to air mixture, via the on-board computer, to compensate for differing fuel mixtures. Some variation would exist, for fixed engines, in performance but as a rule the differences are minuscule. All the oil companies do indeed share the same pipelines and they dump in a volume and take out that amount., not the actual fuel they themselves put in. Add to this that oil, crude or refined, can end up anywhere in the world depending on the peak price at the moment it reaches a destination. (Most shipments are re-routed many times in route to maximize profits). Faster running, fixed engines that burn fuel faster is a sign of alcohol content, by the way. It is the reason that "E-85" in a fixed emission engine will give poorer gas mileage.