It’s a scenario we all dread – you hop into your car, start the engine, and suddenly realize your tank is running low. With hope, you might bypass a couple of gas stations in the quest for the best price before facing the harsh reality that filling up in can be pretty pricey these days.
“Back in the day, it used to be like 99 cents a gallon. That was when I was in high school,” Tony Clark recalls.
Gone are the days of filling your car up with as little as $20. For drivers like Clark, who spends about $70 on gas each week, it’s something he reminisces about every time he heads to the pump.
“[I] Still got to get to work, still got to get to friends houses and other places so [I] still have to have gas,” said Clark.
According to AAA, gas prices in Arizona, and more specifically in Tucson, have steadily risen over the past month, while the national average has largely remained stagnant.
This comes as the price of a barrel of oil reached an 11-month high Wednesday largely driven by production cuts in Saudi Arabia and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war.
“You know, I dont even pay attention to the gas price,” said Mark Platt, who owns a Mini Cooper that requires premium gas.
Paying attention to prices, or a lack of attention, was the common theme among Oro Valley drivers.
And With the average gallon of gas in Tucson sitting at $4.26 as of September 28, Platt doesn’t believe looking for the cheapest price is worth it.
“I dont bother anymore, just pay what it is. Take the nickel a gallon and multiply and you saved yourself, what, a buck and a half or whatever,” Platt said.
While many drivers these days might look past gas prices, people like Yvonne Cancino try to carefully plan their days to reduce the amount of gas they use.
“Ive always tried to keep the visits that I do in a general area and then go from the furthest away to where its closest to home,” she said.