• FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    16 days ago

    I’m european, my family didn’t have a car growing up and i haven’t since learned to drive yet, so i have no conception of what is a sensible gas price. Thst said, i’m pretty sure not many people under the age of 60 do either.

    • polariscap@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      0·
      15 days ago

      https://gasprices.aaa.com/ ⬆️ Compares current prices (per gallon) to a year ago, and shows how it can vary a lot by state. Some states tax it more, some states love their oil so it’s cheaper.

      For example I am in a US city with good public transit but have an inherited 14yo beater car that still runs fine, so we keep it for occasional small city drives 1x/week. It takes regular grade fuel (not diesel etc) so it’s least expensive. The tank can hold ~18.5 gallons of gas (mpg rating is ~24 miles/gallon). I might fill up at a gas station 1x/month.

      • in May 2003 when I was 18, my gas was ~$1.50/gal ; I only remember this bc I would be shocked visiting somewhere seeing $2.00+ rates. 1 fillup would’ve been $27.75
      • in May 2025 apparently my gas was $3.005/gal ; 1 fillup was $55.59
      • now (May 2026 this week) apparently my gas is $4.494/gal ; 1 fillup is $83.14
      • now, if I moved to somewhere with gas price $6/gal, 1 fillup is $111

      But I can ride the subway to work every day. For the majority of Americans using cars they might fill up on gas 1, 2, 3x a week depending on if they have to drive to work, how far, etc. so that’s more like:

      • May 2003: fillup 1x/wk = $111.00/mo
      • May 2025: fillup 1x/wk = $227.34/mo (1 year ago)
      • May 2026: fillup 1x/wk = $332.66/mo
      • May 2026 @ $6/gal, fillup 1x/wk = $444/mo

      So it’d be ~$1270/year ($106/mo) more expensive overall for me than last year if I needed my car every day to drive. And that is just the same gas and car I was using before. If I moved to expensive place, I could be paying ~$2600/year ($217/mo) more. Just so car go.

      By and large people aren’t getting paid more than a year ago, and it’s worse because inflation is still outpacing everything. food costs are zooming up insanely too (many reasons, but even just thinking of cross country delivery trucks), so it’s all insanely unsustainable.

      When you have to drive every day to survive pretty much nothing feels sensible I imagine. If I hadn’t inherited the car from dead relative I would not have one. Perhaps sell it and squirrel it away for an EV (if only).