Normalized Gas Prices

I was curious about gas prices in Reno and whether it is worth it to travel any distance for gasoline, or merely use the nearest gas station.

Maybe you already know the answer, or know someone else who knows the answer, but I felt like doing a bit of math to prove it to myself. Here is what I found out.

Using prices listed within the last 6 hours on GasBuddy.com, and Google Maps to acquire distance data, I produced the following tables. Note the entries are sorted from nearest to farthest in miles.

The most realistic representation of cost

Increasing mileage doesn't really change the results

Devaluing myself starts to make a difference in the cost

Increasing my fuel capacity theoretically changes the value, but not by much

If you're not in a hurry, and don't consider your time valuable, you might consider holding off until the weekend to drive to the nearest town (unless you plan to make money on the weekend). As for increasing my tank size, that's not going to happen, and even so, the more you pull, the worse your mileage gets, which, if decreased, is not going to make up for your earnings.

Moral of the story: if you want to save on gasoline in a hurry, go to whatever gas station is nearest to you (or your next immediate location) at the time.