Fuel woahs

I realize that it is Thursday and that I still haven’t posted about the 4th Annual GGSE Meet n’ Greet, but I’m going to do a topical one today. For now, I’ll just say that we had a blast.

Ok, so gas prices are up, averaging $3.62 across the country. Crude oil is up to $120+ a barrel. However, there is no fuel shortage! We are still putting oil into the reserve! Why they heck am I getting cut off at the pump? I have a 26 gallon tank. I fill it up. I drive it until the low fuel light comes on. (For me, that is about every 3 days) It usually takes anywhere from 21-22 gallons to fill it back up. So now, when I get almost there… the pump cuts off. At $75. This happened last time, 2-3 years ago, when prices jumped significantly. The pumps would quit at $50 then. And I’d have to restart and have an extra charge on my visa for 1-2 gallons. And they add these little signs, “Please be courteous to other customers and limit your purchase to blah, blah, blah.” Look, if I don’t buy it now, I will be back in less than 3 days. It’s unavoidable. It’s gonna happen. Why are you forcing me to stop more often than I have to? THERE’S NO SHORTAGE!

Argh!

And don’t even get me started today on the stations that remove the handle lock on the pumps. Hello, there is already a perfectly capable safety device in there… But that is a rant for another day.

Anyhoo, I am getting ready to make my first ever vehicle purchase that will be influenced mainly for the sake of fuel economy. I still haven’t decided which route to take. On one hand, I could buy an 8-10 year old car with 100-150k miles on it for around 3-4k, pay cash, and it’ll pay for itself in 8-10 months. After that, as long as it keeps running, I’m coming out ahead, and when it quits, I buy another. On the other hand, I tend to drive vehicles forever. I bought my truck new 9 years and 160k miles ago. I could buy a new, or almost new, economy car. That way, I know it will be getting optimum gas mileage for awhile, and I know I will keep it long enough to make it worthwhile. Also, some of them are available for 0% financing. Anyone out there have an opinion on it?