Pump Your Gas in the Morning and Save Half a Penny, or Less

Filed in archive General on August 20, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Skip ODonnell

If you read this blog regularly (and you know you do), you may have noticed that I cast a skeptical eye on money-saving ideas that require maximum effort for minimum savings.

This year's gas prices have created all kinds of ideas on how to maximize your gas so you can save a bit. One of the ideas offered has been to buy your gas in the morning:

Buy gasoline during coolest time of day - early morning or late evening is best. During these times gasoline is densest. Keep in mind - gas pumps measure volumes of gasoline, not densities of fuel concentration. You are charged according to "volume of measurement".

Does this sound like a good tip? Maybe. According to Snopes, even if it were undeniably, 100% true, you wouldn't save much:

Even if the temperature/volume issue were a real and significant one, one has to consider the amount of savings to be gleaned from such a scheme. Assuming that a motorist typically bought 15 gallons of gasoline per week at $4.00 per gallon, and assuming that by carefully choosing to fill up at a particular time of day said consumer could realize a 1% savings, we calculate the total savings to be gleaned over the course of a year at about $31. Would that reward really be worth the potential inconvenience of adhering to a rigid fill-up schedule week after week?

Now Consumer Reports says that you're unlikely to get any savings by filling up in the morning, because fuel stored in underground tanks does not necessarily get cold overnight or heat up during the day:

Today's double-walled tanks work just as well at keeping fuel warm as keeping it cool. If fuel is warm when it's delivered to a station, it'll still be warm when it's sold a few hours later, whether that's five in the morning or two in the afternoon.

In other words, spend your time on more worthwhile pursuits, like maybe the pursuit of more money instead of pursuing miniscule cost savings at the cost of your time.