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LA Drivers Close To Paying Highest Price For Gas On Record
Gas prices are steadily increasing toward an all-time high.
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With gas averaging $4.67 per gallon in Los Angeles County, drivers are staring down the county’s all-time average gas price record of $4.70. A typical 15-gallon tank fill-up could cost drivers $70 or more.
The reason? High oil prices are the big one. But there’s also inflation, tax structure, and refineries paying carbon credits to the state to offset pollution.
Marie Montgomery, spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California, says there are signs that oil prices may start to go down, and with that, gasoline prices. But when?
“Until we actually see that in a substantial way, we’re probably not going to see change from the upward pressure,” Montgomery says.
Gas prices go up relatively quickly, but come down slower.
“Our gas prices are usually the most expensive in the U.S., and that is certainly the case right now,” Montgomery says. “We’re well above even Hawaii, which is, you know, an island.”
The Automobile Club of Southern California says 3.8 million drivers in Southern California are expected to hit the road during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. For Southern California, this will be the second-busiest Thanksgiving travel volume on record since 2019.
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Here are Montgomery’s tips on how to save money on fuel during this time:
- Download the AAA Mobile app to find the cheapest gas station near you
- Check once a month to make sure your vehicle's tire pressure is correct
- Check the real time miles per gallon on your car and adjust driving style to maximize it — slow down, anticipate people stopping in front of you, don’t slam on breaks, ease on to the gas from red to green light.
“If you adopt a very relaxed and anticipatory driving style, you wouldn’t believe how much money it would save you in gas,” Montgomery says.
As Jeffrey Spring, spokesperson for the Automobile Club of America suggests, drivers can help reduce costs by slowing down to anticipate traffic and coasting to a stop sign rather than speeding up then stopping.
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